Broken Chains
by Orpheus Kidwell
Summary: An Ancient Bloodline older than the Kingdoms, the Uzumaki House has nearly fallen. Only Naruto has survived the war they waged against the White Fang. Adam Taurus tore his family away and he thought he was broken. The Schnee family proved only his chains had been severed, leaving him without restraints. The Fang will break by his hands. NarutoxWeiss. Warning: Dark elements
1. Chapter I

**Broken Chains**

 **Chapter I**

"Foolish child, did you truly think that you could stand up against one of the Captains of the White Fang? You may hold your mother's weapon and the Uzumaki Semblance, but you are an ignorant child playing in the world of adults." The speaker was a man with blood red spikes of hair and two, black and curved horns protruding above even those. The top half of his face was obscured by a white and red mask with four, horizontal eye slits but the lower half was pale with a snarl on his thin lips. He wore a buttoned up, black blazer with an emblem of a red rose with white tendrils in the background and a pair of black pants. His hands were covered by black gloves, one of which held his katana - Wilt - and the other held the rifle and scabbard - Blush. He wore boots on his feet, one of which kicked a figure on the floor who was lying in a puddle of his own blood.

"F-fuck you, Adam Taurus…" The boy spoke, surely only sixteen. He had spikes of golden-blonde hair and a pair of glaring, cerulean eyes that were aimed at the Faunus before him. He wore a red shirt, black pants and sandals. Over his shirt, was a black coat reaching his knees with the Uzumaki Spiral wrapped in chains in an X symbol - his personal Emblem. Similar to Adam, the boy had black gloves with his right hand using all its strength to keep ahold of his mother's weapon which Adam had spoke of. It was an unassuming baton one meter in length with sickle blades protruding from the left side at the top and the right side at the bottom.

"I see you've still got some fight left in you, Naruto Uzumaki." Adam stated as he crouched down so he could look into the blonde's eyes. "Your mother was the same way, you know. Your whole family was the same way. Kushina, Tsunade, Minato, Mito, Hashirama, Nagato, even that little girl Karin all fought tooth and nail to stay alive and never lost that spirit." At the last name, Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh? Didn't you know that we took care of your little medic? Yes, we found Karin, Honoka, Tayuya and Karui in that dreadful building you call a hideout. They tried fighting back, oh how they tried. In the end, every one of them fell beneath the Fang." Adam reached into his coat and pulled out what appeared to be the top-line model of Scroll, and began tapping away at it until he found what he was looking for. "I had this purchased just for you, you know. We didn't steal it, I spent good lien just for you. You've been a thorn in the side of the Fang for far too long, but no longer."

The Commander of the White Fang lowered the Scroll and turned it so Naruto could look at it. Cerulean eyes widened and tears spilled over upon seeing the head of a girl his age on a pole, red hair and glasses marking her as Karin Uzumaki. Adam swiped to the left to show Naruto similar images of Tayuya, Honoka and Karui all atop poles, then a fifth image of the four neatly in a row. "I did that myself with Wilt. I doubt that the poles are still in front of your headquarters anymore, the authorities have likely taken them down. But those are the last of the so-called Uzumaki House. You're the last of the line, the last surviving Uzumaki.

"It's taken some time. This war your mother so foolishly started with our organization is finally over after two long years. Across all Four Kingdoms the Whirlpool Bloodline has been extinguished, save for you." He lifted Wilt up so he could examine its already bloody blade, before flicking the crimson liquid off onto Naruto's face, forcing him to close his eyes. "You'll survive this. I haven't hit any of your vital organs and made sure to stay away from arteries that would cause you to bleed out. No, I'm going to let you live." Adam stood back up, dusting off his pants and coat after her sheathed his weapons. "I'm going to let you live with the fact that even after your mother died, you continued to fight in her place and that is what got your family killed. If you had stayed out of it, those four women would have never been touched by my men. Instead, you chose to continue and for that… _they_ paid the price."

Without another word, Adam turned around and walked away from the boy. There were corpses of White Fang members on the ground that Naruto had personally taken out before Adam fought him, but they were of little consequence. Only the strongest of his species would survive to see the world he was creating.

Naruto, meanwhile, groaned softly as he watched Adam leave. He desired nothing more than to stand and unleash death upon the Bull Faunus but… he knew he was outclassed now. Slowly, ever so slowly, he was able to move until he kept himself upright with his hands and knees. He then worked himself until he was sitting up. _He really tore up my Aura with that assault._ The blonde thought to himself as he placed one hand over his stomach, where the largest wound was. From his hand, a matrix of complex symbols surrounded by a circle materialized and he could feel his Semblance increasing the speed of his Aura's healing capabilities. His Semblance, as with everyone in the Uzumaki House, was Seals. They were similar to their cousin clan, the Schnees, in many regards, though Seals were more complex.

This particular one created a distortion in space-time of a limited area to speed up time and was normally used to enhance agility of the user, but Tsunade had showed him that it had other capabilities. That was something Mito, Tsunade and his mother drilled into his mind - every seal has nearly unlimited uses if you're creative. Of course, they also said that family was the foundation of the Uzumaki way and he failed them on that…

As he went to work on healing his other wounds, the blonde noted something in front of him, untouched by his blood. Adam had left the Scroll for him. Reaching out to grab it, Naruto quickly exited the gallery of family photos to see what else was on it. No calls, no contacts, no messages, no apps aside from those from when it was bought; it was completely clean. He didn't know why he did it, but something made him open the gallery again and look at the four women he had been living with for six months.

The images were burned into his head as he recalled similar scenery. "It's just like with mom…" He shivered at coming home from a Grimm Hunt with his Uncle Nagato to find his mother's head mounted on a pike in front of the Uzumaki Manor in Vale. Only a singular thought ran through his head as the dots began connecting. _Adam will kill and do that to anyone close to me if I keep trying to fight the Fang…_

It was that thought that made him lose focus on his seal. The matrix destabilized as he was attempting to heal his left shoulder and the sudden explosion of energy made him scream out in pain when it caused the laceration to open up further, releasing blood in copious amounts. Biting down the pain with a loud curse, he formed two Time Displacement Seals in a complex, layered matrix that slowed bloodflow dramatically while speeding up the regeneration of his skin cells. Within a few minutes his mistake was corrected, but the phantom pain was still there.

"I've got to be more careful. I can't let my mind wander." He mumbled to himself while moving to stand. As he did so, he bent down to retrieve his mother's weapon - Adamantium Whirlpool. Shaking the blood off of it, he allowed the sickle blades to retract back into it and had the black baton extend into a two meter staff he used as a walking stick to keep his balance. He might have healed his wounds, but using so much Aura left him light-headed, especially after his fight. Seals that complex always took more Aura to create since he wasn't exactly a master at them.

Moving away from the slaughterfest that was the White Fang base he had found, he stepped over the bodies of masked Faunus while the blood of his victims and his own puddle mixed into his footprints. "I need to find somewhere to stay for the moment. I can't go to the Manor or back to the hideout… too many memories." When he heard his voice, he was surprised at just how _hollow_ it sounded to him. Even more surprising was that he was no longer crying over the four women that Adam had ruthlessly killed, maimed and desecrated just to prove a point to him. He didn't know when the tears dried, but he knew that he couldn't hound the Fang anymore. Not with how weak Adam had proved he was. With no other Uzumaki, he wasn't sure he had any reason to fight though…

Where could he possibly go though? That was the thought that plagued the last of the Uzumaki's mind as he came to the concrete wall that surrounded the base. He looked down at his attire and realized he couldn't leave yet though. This much blood on his clothing would only bring the attention of Valian police. With that in mind, he placed his hand on the concrete wall in front of him where a seal materialized on the surface.

The blonde had to catch himself before falling face first into the wall though, as the world immediately began spinning. "T-too much Aura… I really need some help…" He muttered while pressing his palm against the Seal, where it began to disappear. He was literally reaching _inside_ the Seal and pulled out a change of clothes identical to what he was wearing. With a little trouble due to his rapidly increasing fatigue, Naruto changed and placed his bloody and torn up clothes inside the Storage Seal. After he finished that, a quick swipe of his palm across the matrix and it disappeared, a portion of the energy used to create it returning to his Aura.

Somewhat cleaner now, the Uzumaki took out his Scroll. He had figured out just what he would do in terms of living arrangements. Dialing a number, he found himself slumping against the wall. As it began ringing, everything finally caught up to the boy and for the second time that night, Naruto found himself shedding tears. He closed his eyes as the dam of emotions burst, so he didn't even realize the other person had picked up their line.

"Hello? Naruto? Why are you crying? What's going on?" The blonde opened his cerulean orbs to stare at the image of the the woman he had called, the only one he could think to call. "Is that blood on your face? Say something Naruto!" The woman had snow white hair tied in a bun at the back with bangs covering the left side of her pale face, only one blue eye shown on her pale face.

"He won, Winter." Naruto said through sobs, smiling a smile that didn't touch his eyes. "He found them and killed them. He put their heads on sticks. Honoka, Karin, Tayuya and Karui are dead! I failed them! And he didn't even kill me, he wanted me to keep living _as punishment_ …" The snowy-haired woman looked as if she was stuck somewhere between surprise, loathing and grief as the blonde explained himself. "I don't know what to do… I can't go back… I just can't. I need to know what I should do!" He found himself yelling the last bit before looking at the ground, letting the salty tears wash dried blood from his cheeks as he whispered. "I need to know what to do…"

Winter hardened her features as she began feverishly typing away at something in the background. "Naruto, I'm going to send the closest airship we have to you and bring you to Atlas. You are going to live at the Schnee Manor with us, do you hear me? Whatever happened there will be covered up and no one will know about it but the two of us. We may be distant cousins, Naruto, but I taught you everything you know after Kushina died. If that… _monster_ defeated you, then I am at fault as well. I shouldn't have let you run off…" Her eyes softened as she spoke, guilt obvious in those light blue orbs. "This time, I'm going to make sure that you're protected. None of those Dust-damned criminals and murderers will get close to you until you can beat _me_ , you understand?"

He rose his head and looked in her eyes, nodding slowly. "Thank you, Winter…" His voice sounded hoarse from his sobs and he had wrapped his knees in his arms as she spoke. "I just want to go home… I'm scared…" Winter believed it, the sheer _terror_ in the boy's voice was easy for her to hear. Just imagining something like that happening to Weiss, who was the same age as him, terrified the oldest Schnee heiress.

"They should be there to pick you up in less than two minutes, Naruto. Soon you'll be home with us and won't have to worry any longer. You'll have a family again." Naruto nodded with a small smile, this one full of hope as he held his knees closer to his body.

Winter couldn't stand seeing her former student in such distress. She remembered the focused and intelligent gaze of the boy who had come to her nine months ago after Kushina's death, requesting to be her apprentice. She refined that anger towards the Fang into a sharp blade and even used her resources to locate and recover Kushina's weapon for him. She knowingly set him down this path, uncaring of the consequences because of how much trouble the Fang was becoming. She didn't know that he would run away six months into training and cut off all communications with her though.

While lost in her thoughts, the airship had arrived and Naruto was being guided into it. "I'll be waiting for you at the Schnee Manor, Naruto. Please try to get some sleep, okay?" The blonde numbly nodded without any verbal reaction but she decided that the shock was a good explanation of that. She wanted to stay on the line with him, to make sure he was okay but first she had a few things to do, so she ended the call from her side. He would be there within four hours, thanks to the new, experimental engines in that particular airship that General Ironwood had allowed her to have the schematics of as a favor to the Schnee Dust Company. "I'll see you soon, Naruto. This time, I'll make sure that you stay safe here in Atlas."

 **[Four Hours Later, Schnee Manor Landing Pad]**

"Weiss, could you come downstairs a moment?" Winter spoke into a callbox in the entrance of the Schnee Manor, where Naruto was with her. She waited a moment in silence before a familiar voice to her replied. _"I'll be right down, Winter!"_ The snowy-haired woman smiled as she looked at the fifteen year old with her, who kept his eyes cast to the ground. She let that smile drop into a frown before laying a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto." The blonde looked up at her with bloodshot eyes, but she could tell she had his undivided attention. "My little sister will be down soon. I won't say anything about what happened this night, but I would like to explain a little to her about who you are and why you're here."

"That's alright with me, Winter." He replied with a nod. "If I'm going to be in the same house as her, she should know about who I am. Does your father know I'm here?" She nodded back in response. "Then she should definitely be told about my family and what happened."

When he finished - as if the universe was conspiring in his favor - the subject of their conversation appeared at the top of the stairs. She had the same snow white hair and light blue eyes as her sister, though her hair was instead styled in a side ponytail held together with a white hairtie that protruded several pins. She was wearing a white and blue dress that ended a little above her knees and a pair of icy blue heels on her feet. The question of how she walked down the stairs with those on without tripping crossed Naruto's mind fleetingly.

As she was halfway down the stairs, Weiss took notice of the blonde standing next to her sister. At first glance the only word she could use to describe him was… broken. He looked like he had lost _everything_ in one fell swoop, faster than he could react. She shook that thought from her head as she approached the duo, taking note of the boy's bloodshot eyes, slumped frame and disheveled hair. "Weiss, I would like you to meet Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto, this is my sister Weiss Schnee." Naruto bowed his head in her direction while Weiss curtsied slightly, unsure of how far to dip given she didn't know who this was.

"I'm glad I can finally meet the famous Weiss." Naruto commented with a forced smile. "Winter talked about you all the time." Weiss looked at him in surprise, shocked that anyone would speak of her sister in such a familiar manner. Or her for that matter. The name Schnee gave the two heiresses certain privileges, including respect from anyone and everyone in Atlas, whether genuine or feigned.

"Naruto here was my apprentice for a six month period and is the current head of the Uzumaki House of Vale, one of the Ancient Bloodlines of Remnant." Winter explained to her sister, watching as the surprise in her eyes gave way to understanding. "He will be staying with us for an indefinite amount of time however, instead of in the Uzumaki Manor." Realization soon gave way to confusion once more. "I think it would be better if you explained, Naruto."

"Of course, Winter." Naruto replied. "My mother, Kushina Uzumaki, declared war on the White Fang after one of their train bombings ended with my father, Minato Namikaze, being killed. My uncle Nagato, a Captain in the Valian Military, led an assault on the organization's headquarters in Vale which ended in the arrest of thousands and deaths of dozens of Faunus with the White Fang. In retaliation, remaining members that escaped the operation attacked several weapon shops and dust refineries owned by my family within 24 hours. Back and forth this went for a year, White Fang and Uzumaki losing their lives in the international battle for dominance. That was until nine months ago when I was out learning how to fight Grimm with my Uncle Nagato and returned to the Manor only to find my mother… her head was mounted on a spike along with my great aunt Tsunade and my great-great grandmother Mito."

Weiss gasped in horror at the admission from the blonde. "With her gone… my uncle swore he would end the Fang and I decided to seek out a teacher. I wanted to find the person who did this to my family and the White Fang had been terrorizing the Schnee Dust Company for the longest time. I sought out Winter and she agreed to help me learn to use Adamantium Whirlpool, my mother's weapon." At this point, he picked up a half-meter long baton from his waist, rotating it as if examining it for the first time. Weiss didn't even notice, still stuck on the fact that a boy her age had lost so many members of his family. "Six months of training with her and I had become much stronger than I was before, but while I was under her watch, the Fang mounted an all-out offensive, killing nearly all the Uzumaki living in Vale in one night. I ran away from Winter when I found this out and searched all over Vale, only finding four survivors.

"The five of us found a sense of safety in a hideout my uncle had showed me once if anything ever happened. Over the course of the last three months, there were multiple attacks on White Fang territory. I put everything I had in trying to destroy them, not caring if I died because I wanted my family to be safe from those… those _monsters_." Finally an emotion registered in Naruto's eyes, it was only a flicker and fleeting, but Weiss saw pure, unadulterated rage behind them. "I finally found who was responsible for killing my mother but he ended up finding the safe house where my family was and mounted _their_ heads on spikes as a warning to me. After I saw that I just… I _couldn't_ fight anymore and I had to call Winter. I didn't know what to do… I couldn't stay at the Manor or the hideout after everything."

"So I've already talked to Father and he agrees that Naruto can stay here as long as he wishes. He also wanted me to introduce you two. I do hope you will get along well with each other." Weiss nodded numbly, still shocked into silence at the exposition Naruto had given. She knew it was just the short version, but she was too horrified to ask about the long version. Naruto gave a similarly silent nod in response. "Weiss, Naruto will be taking the room across from yours so would you mind showing him the way? I'll have your luggage sent up within the hour, of course." She spoke the last line to Naruto, who smiled in response. "Thank you Weiss. I'll see you two in the morning, but for now I have a few important matters to take care of."

With that, Naruto and Weiss were left alone. She was looking at the ground before she gathered the courage to meet her distant cousin's eyes. "The White Fang… really took everything from you, didn't they?" The blonde sighed, but nodded his head once. Hesitation turned into anger for her cousin. "They really are nothing but criminals and terrorists. Those beasts don't deserve the air they breathe if this is what they do!" Hearing the girl so energetic about his plight brought a small smile to Naruto's lips.

"I won't disagree with you, but right now, I think I just need some sleep, if that's alright."

"Of course, follow me." That angry aura she held didn't disappear, but Naruto couldn't help but think he didn't mind. He wasn't the only one that hated those bastards and that made him think he might have a chance.

Up until he saw the heads of his family on spikes atop the staircase's banister, only to disappear a moment later. He bit back a scream, so as not to scare Weiss, but he wrapped his arms around himself to prevent shivering. _I'm going to kill you Adam and destroy your precious White Fang. Just you wait._ The empty look in his eyes disappeared in lieu of utter bloodlust and rage. _I won't allow my family to have died in vain._


	2. Chapter II: The Order

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya! Orpheus here!**

 **So, I've been working hard to pull together some plot for this story and I'd like to thank Crimson-Wyvern. Kobe Kidwell and Alvor the Warhawk for their assorted help with various aspects. Go check them out, why don't you?**

 **Also, let's do a little review answering.**

 **Leaper of Faith: I may not** _ **have**_ **to use your idea, but it's certainly a good one and I think that I** _ **will**_ **use it, actually.**

 **Guest: I think you mean when he finds out her affiliation. She's not exactly advertising her Faunus heritage or her former White Fang allegiance. But yeah, you'll get to see that for sure.**

 **Dragon and Sword Master: Oh, they** _ **will**_ **meet.**

 **Guest: Actually, no, he won't. You'll see though.**

 **Fox Boss: Already have it designed, but if you have something in mind, I do have other characters I need to design weapons for.**

 **Le MAO XVII: While Naruto won't exactly hate all Faunus, well, I'll let you see for yourself how he reacts to them.**

 **Now, let's begin!**

 **Chapter II: The Order**

 **[Three Months Later - Schnee Manor North Fields]**

"Are the two of you ready?" Winter asked as she stood in the center of a large field. The grassy grove was void of stone, flora or fauna. To either side of the Huntress, two meters away from her, were Naruto and Weiss with weapons drawn. Weiss held Myrtenaster - a thin rapier with a six-slotted Dust revolver in the guard that was currently set to her favored Ice Dust. Naruto, meanwhile, had Adamantium Whirlpool - currently it was one meter in length with a sickle blade protruding from the right side of the handle.

"If Weiss can keep up." Naruto stated with a slight grin, causing the snowy-haired second-born Schnee to scoff at the comment. "Problem, Princess?"

"I'm going to enjoy this spar more than usual." Weiss replied evenly while taking a well-practiced stance. She eyes the so-called 'stance' Naruto was in, which was more like a slouched pose than anything else.

Winter looked from her sister to her student and back before nodding to herself. "Then you may begin." She jumped back to give them some room just in time for the two to meet, rapier meeting sickle. She noticed that where the two had previously stood was a Speed Glyph and a Time Displacement Seal to enhance their speeds. Naruto grinned as he pressed against Myrtenaster while Weiss scowled. "Come on, Princess, is that all the strength you can muster? I'm not even using any Seals."

"I, unlike you, am no brute." She conceded before jumping back from the exchange, slashing her rapier multiple times as more Speed Glyphs appeared in the air. bolts of Ice Dust shot forward at mach speeds right towards Naruto, controlled by her Aura. "However, I do have more command of Dust Spells!" Her scowl became a satisfied smirk as she was forcing the blonde to jump, roll and sidestep her attacks with every slash of her weapon.

While evading every one of her attacks, Naruto also focused his Aura into his left hand. After about half a minute of dodging, he thrust his palm forward and slammed it into one of the bolts of Ice Dust. If one were to look closely at the air in front of his hand, they would notice the air shimmering in a small sealing array about three centimeters in radius but two centimeters from his skin. As the Dust bolt hit it, the Seal glowed brightly while absorbing it. Weiss widened her eyes as she realized what was happening and quickly created several Gravity Glyphs in the air and began to jump between them. It proved a correct choice.

The Seal suddenly released a dozen identical copies of the original ice bolt, all aimed for Weiss. As they slammed into the ground or one of the Gravity Seals, large spikes of ice formed in an explosion of volatile energy. The snow-haired heiress was able to dodge the redirected spell, but was panting a little from the sudden exertion. "Mirror Seals are the worst…" She spoke with frustration between breaths.

"You're just lucky that it still takes me time to gather my Aura and focus enough to activate one." Naruto responded, that same grin in place. "I hope you're ready, Princess." Adamantium Whirlpool clicked as a second sickle blade protruding from the bottom of his baton, on the right side. It then extended until it was a full two meters in length. Grabbing both sides, they split down the middle so he held two meter long sickles. "I've finally got the Chain Seal figured out which means I can use my mother's weapons to their fullest.'' With that said, his hands glowed golden with his Aura and chains of the same color began to form between the two sickles, until they were connected.

"Well, that's new." Winter commented as tapped away at her Scroll, taking notes on the spar between the two civilians she spent the most time with. "It seems my student is doing some training on his own." She watched as Naruto flew forward with a Time Displacement Seal, throwing his left sickle at her sister. The chains began extending on their own until they had reached a full five meters in length. He grabbed the links and tugged, sending his weapon in an upward arc as Weiss tried to jump over it. His chain snagged the heiress around her right leg, tangling around both of them until she was wrapped up tightly.

It would have been all very impressive if the sudden weight of the younger Schnee hadn't made Naruto lose his balance and sent him crashing until he ended up next to Weiss on the floor. The two groaned in unison at the failed attack just as Naruto's chains disappeared from existence. "Ow… that wasn't supposed to happen." He muttered in obvious pain, even with his Aura taking a brunt of the damage.

"Then why don't you explain something, Naruto." Winter stated as she appeared above the two, using one hand each to help them to their feet. "First, just what was that? I have never seen anything like it except in Hunters who have mastered Aura manipulation after years and years of practice. It can't have been your Semblance either, could it?" Weiss seemed genuinely curious as well, though she was just as genuinely displeased with the state of her battle dress, if her scowl was anything to go by.

"Well, I've been reading more and more into my family's Sealing Scrolls and found the theory behind my mother's Chain Seal. In essence, I craft a complex seal that absorbs my Aura and then releases it in a very distinct way. That's the Aura Manipulation Seal, and the first step. I had to then specialize the Aura Manipulation Seal until it creates chains between two objects that I mark with a Homing Seal." Picking up his sickles from the ground, he showed a very small seal that matched his Emblem on the bottoms of the handles. "From there, as long as I continue to feed my Aura into Chain Seal, it will keep the chains in existence and also extend them as far as I want, or retract them by channeling less of my Aura. The Chain Seal itself takes a lot of focus to create mid-battle though, so instead I wrote it on my gloves." He reattached the two sides of Adamantium Whirlpool, retracted the blades and placed it back on his waist before holding up his hands to show identical Seals written on his gloves.

"I see. So, by having them written in advance while also having the Uzumaki Semblance, you can activate the Seals whenever you need to."

"Well, yeah. My Seals take a lot more focus and practice than the Schnee Glyphs. I have to memorize the formulas that go into each Seal, perfectly picture it in my mind and then materialize it with my Aura. And if I'm not writing it on a solid surface, then it gets even more difficult. Sometimes I get kind of envious that you two can make your Glyphs in the air one after the other without breaking a sweat." Weiss held a satisfied smirk at that admission.

"Well, of course our Glyphs are better." She stated before sighing. "Still, those Seals can do things I've never seen anyone in my family pull off. We might have speed and the ability to use our Glyphs anywhere instantly, but those Seals are versatile. Especially those Mirror Seals. I hate them so much." Naruto snickered at her particular hatred of having attacks she sent used against her. She shook her head at his laidback attitude while sheathing Myrtenaster at her waist.

"I think we'll call this fight a draw since while Naruto took down Weiss, he also left himself vulnerable. In a fight between Hunters, that would leave you both open to killing blows from each other's teammates or the killing intent would have attracted Grimm. This is not a draw where you both win, but one where you both would have lost if this was the real world." The two heirs nodded at her assessment. "Furthermore, I'm going to have to assign you two new training after watching this. Weiss, while you are excelling in your Dust Spells, I want you to focus on getting better at close combat for now. Your physical strength is a long-term assignment, but for now I am going to get Frost to help you mix Glyphs and swordplay into a new style. Naruto, your evasion and planning is doing well, but it still takes you much too long to craft anything but your Time Displacement Seals while in battle. I want you to work on getting your Mirror Seal down to ten seconds and continue your Dust Spell training with Flurry. I have to leave tonight for a long-term mission, but I want to see your progress when I return."

"Of course, Winter." Weiss said with a nod of her head.

"Sure thing!" Naruto grinned in response. Winter nodded before she turned away from the two, one hand stroking the hilt of her saber. "You alright, Winter?" Naruto asked curiously as he noticed her silence.

"It's nothing. Focus on your training, I want the two of you to be the best students whenever you attend one of the Four Academies next semester." She turned her head slightly so they could see her smile and the pride in her eyes. "I know the two of you will become great Hunters. You're the heirs to two of the strongest Ancient Bloodlines in all of Remnant, if not the two strongest." The smile morphed into a frown as she sighed. "Also, that drunk is apparently coming to Atlas today to see you, Naruto. I don't know why you entertain him, but… I did promise to tell you."

"Qrow will be here?" Naruto grinned as Weiss shook her head. "Thanks, Winter!" With that, the blonde disappeared in a burst of speed so fast that a swirl of dust was left in his wake. The Time Displacement seal still shimmered above the ground for a few moments with the amount of Aura he had placed into it.

"Please watch him, Weiss. Naruto has recovered well from his trauma, but I don't like that man filling him with strange habits." Weiss nodded as she formed her own Speed Glyph and chased after him. "Good. Those two should be fine until I get back from the Blight."

 **[Downtown Atlas - One Hour Later]**

"Now let's see if we can find him…" Naruto muttered to himself as Weiss walked behind the impatient blonde. "It's not like he has that common of a look. How does he manage to always blend in until he wants to be found?"

"It's because he's a full-fledged Huntsman who specializes in undercover missions." The voice came from behind the two heirs and made them jump. There stood a man with somewhat spiked and combed back black hair staring at the two with black eyes of mirth and humor. He wore a grey and white shirt buttoned up to the collar with sleeves rolled halfway up his arms, a tattered black cape that was red on the inside and black pants with them. On his hip sat what appeared to be a short sword while he carried a flask in his left hand.

"Can't you ever at least give off the image that you're a respectable and productive member of society?" Weiss asked scathingly as the man took a drink from his flask. The action caused her to scowl disapprovingly.

"Woah there, Princess. I think I see frost forming on the sidewalk." He replied without hesitation, causing her to fume further.

"What are you doing here, Qrow?" Naruto asked with a grin to the Huntsman. The mirth in his grin didn't quite match his eyes, with were burning with righteous fury. "Any news about the Fang?" The raven-haired man shook his head, causing the blonde to deflate with a sigh. "Wait… then why are you here?" Qrow looked at the two teenagers and motioned them to follow him. Weiss and Naruto shared a look before complying. The veteran Huntsman led them down a few side streets and alleys until they reached a particular door in a dark alleyway. After a series of knocks, a slot opened up to reveal a pair of teal eyes that looked around.

"I've come baring the fangs of the Beast, harboring Ancient Blood, ready to use the Darkness to destroy Darkness." After Qrow spoke the gibberish sentence - at least to Naruto and Weiss - the slot closed and several deadbolts could be heard unlatching inside. The large, metal door opened to reveal a blonde haired woman in her early twenties with blonde hair tied up in four ponytails. She wore a black battle kimono tied around the waist with a purple sash and held what appeared to be a two meter club on her back. "Thank you, Temari."

"I see you've brought these two, Qrow." The now named Temari replied evenly as the trio entered. She shut the door behind them while looking Naruto and Weiss over from head to toe. "You'll have to deal with the consequences _she_ will put you through for involving them this early, you know." Qrow began snickering at Temari's comment. "What's so funny?"

"This coming from the woman who involved Gaara when he was _eight_?" Temari fought hard to keep her blush down to a minimum. "That's what I thought. I haven't involved Ruby or Yang yet since they aren't ready, but the Ancient Blood is stronger in these two than anyone else in their family has had it for hundreds of years. Convincing Winter was the real challenge, so Mikoto won't be an issue."

"Okay, can someone _please_ explain what you are talking about? And stop talking about us like we're some sort of show ponies!" Weiss demanded with a huff as she literally put her foot down. Qrow and Temari looked back at the two heirs as if suddenly remembering they were present before the Huntsman nodded. "Thank you!"

"Follow me. Mikoto will happily explain everything to you two." Naruto was silent as he heard the name. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he had heard it. Or when he heard it for that matter. Regardless, the three left Temari behind as they walked through what appeared to be some sort of military compound. They walked through a metal hallway emblazoned with what Naruto recognized as Uzumaki Barrier Seals with doors on each side spaced away every five meters or so.

Finally they reached a door after about sixty meters of traveling down a ramp on the left side that Qrow knocked on before entering. The only person in the room was a ravenette woman sitting on her knees and wearing a light purple shirt, a matching skirt that reached her ankles and a whip curled up on the floor beside her. Her eyes were positively the strangest that Naruto and Weiss had ever seen. They had red sclera and pupi but the black iris was a five-point star with curved arms that spun clockwise as she looked at them.

While the woman looked over Weiss, her eyes observing every small quality of the girl. She shuffled on her feet slightly as the knowing gaze made her uncomfortable. To the heiress, it felt like the woman she assumed was Mikoto was looking into her very soul with those odd eyes of hers. "Weiss Schnee, youngest heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation, I have been long waiting to see you here. By Winter's own admission, you have much talent, both latent and current, with Glyphs, Dust Spells and intelligence. Your Schnee blood is the thickest that anyone has seen in centuries, which makes you both a worthy ally and a terrifying enemy. That is, if you can learn how to control your Runic Bloodline."

Her eyes then turned to the blonde, softening as they gazed at Naruto. "Naruto Uzumaki, current head of the Uzumaki House and owner of the Whirlpool Corporation by will of Kushina. Enemy to the White Fang and with a blood oath to destroy their current leader, you certainly already have a famous name among the Hunters, criminal rings and even the Councils. I am sorry for your loss, though my condolences do not come even close to the heinous act that has befallen your family. Kushina was my childhood friend and when I heard of her death and how she died, I was devastated. Had it not been for Nagato sending you to Winter I would have taken you into the Uchiha House and then you disappeared. Three months of attacks on every known base the White Fang held across the Four Kingdoms, ending with massacres on the terrorists and the Kingdoms knew that even with Kushina and Nagato losing their lives, the fight against the Fang was strong. Three months ago they suddenly stopped though and no one knows why. Your Whirlpool Blood is strong, but your will was destroyed according to Winter."

"I'm going to destroy Adam." Naruto interrupted Mikoto with nothing but livid hatred in his eyes. "He killed my family and so I will destroy him and the Fang. I haven't lost the will, but I did promise Winter and Weiss I wouldn't leave Atlas until I attended one of the Academies. The presence of the White Fang is the least here in Atlas out of all four Kingdoms so I haven't found any bases here in the last three months. I haven't given up, but I know if I try fighting Adam again as I am then I'll only end up being killed this time. Until I understand my Semblance better and find actual allies, then I can't possibly continue my mother's war."

Mikoto closed her eyes at his admission before smiling widely and nodding. "You are correct in that. Without mastery of your Whirlpool Blood and the support of other Bloodlines you cannot possibly stand a chance against him." She opened her eyes, which were now normal black eyes, before standing with her whip in hand. She placed it on the back of her waist, where a single hook was located to hold her weapon. "I cannot promise the support of our organization, however. I may be at the head, but the Houses are generally given their own reign unless it is a matter of grave importance. You will need to gain support on your own. What I _can_ offer you however is by no means menial."

"Hold on one second." Weiss demanded as she stepped forward a bit, slightly shielding Naruto in the process with one hand on her rapier's hilt. "Just what _is_ your organization? I know that you're the Uchiha House head after Fugaku went missing, then there's Temari, oldest heiress to Vacuo's Sabaku House and Qrow is of course the veteran Huntsman that put the Branwen House back on the map along with his twin sister Raven. It seems like your members are all…"

"Part of the oldest Houses in Remnant?" Mikoto finished with a slight smile. "Yes, that's true. The Old Blood runs thick within our ranks, we are The Order. The Schnee, Uzumaki, Branwen, Uchiha, Rose and Kaguya came together when the Grimm first emerged four centuries ago and made a pact to do their best to keep the Grimm from taking over. Over the years, other Houses were welcomed into the Order: the Aburame, Sabaku, Nara, Arc, Valkyrie and Goodwitch families among many others. Some Houses died out, some were expelled and some remained loyal to the Order. We protect the world from the Grimm and from itself, we keep the cogs of the Kingdoms running smoothly by spreading technology, Dust and knowledge to those worthy and we, above all, do what is best for the entire population - human and Faunus alike. I am Mikoto Uchiha, 76th Lady of Atlas."

"Wait… so the Houses run the world from behind the scenes?" Naruto asked, to which Mikoto and Qrow nodded their heads. "And you want to help me get rid of the White Fang?" Naruto continued, this time Mikoto shook her head.

"I cannot give you any official help in your endeavors. If you wish to achieve your ambitions, you must work independently, just as every head of House does. No, I cannot lend you the strength of the Uchiha House. However, I can lend you aid as your godmother and as your mother's best friend. You will be seventeen soon, correct? The new semester at Beacon will be beginning in six months' time and if you would so choose I can have the two of you enrolled at Beacon Academy for the newest class instead of having to go to the Academy here in Atlas."

"There is a higher concentration of the White Fang in Vale." Naruto commented with a nod. "I do want to go there for a few reasons but that's near the top of the list." The blonde then turned to Weiss, looking in her eyes without saying a word. She gripped the hilt of Myrtenaster a bit tighter before sighing and nodding. She let go of her blade and brushed off the front of her dress.

"I wish to attend as well. I was thinking of applying to Vale anyways as a way to get some freedom from my father, so I will join you, Naruto." He grinned and wrapped her in a tight hug which she promptly pushed away from. "Please don't wrinkle my clothes." She implored him, but she was smiling nonetheless.

"If that is the case, then I welcome you to the Order as Prospects." The two heirs looked at her quickly at the comment. "Do not worry, nothing will be required of you yet, but accepting my help means you must join. Both Qrow and Winter are members of the Order, so surely that offers some form of insurance to our credibility." This caused them to lose their tenseness, which made the woman smile. "As Prospects I will have at least one Knight watching over the both of you at all times as protection. I may also ask for some information from time to time, but no active action on your part or any missions until you reach the next rank within our organization."

Mikoto hummed to herself before smiling. "That's right, there was one more thing. It is my understanding that Weiss has offered her assistance in your mission, Naruto?" The snowy-haired teen nodded her head with determination in her eyes. "If that is the case, then I should offer the two of you some advice. Do not blame all Faunus for the actions of the Fang. Most are innocent bystanders in this war, and some Fang are even looking for a way out. Though, very few find their way out given Adam's iron grip on the group, killing defectors if they are caught. Just keep that in mind when you start attending Beacon. I'm sure with such a prestigious Academy calling in the best of the best, certain players are bound to show up."

"I'll keep that in mind." Naruto responded.

"Perfect!" Mikoto clapped her hands cheerily. "Now, I have matters to take care of soon, so could you show them the way out and take care of further explanations, Qrow?" The Huntsman nodded as he led them to the door. "Oh, and Naruto? Don't be afraid to visit the Uchiha Manor here in Atlas, I would love to get to know my godson better." She waved as the three left her room. As soon as the door shut, her eyes shifted back to their unique design with the activation of her Semblance. Her Aura, normally a stark white, began to bleed into a dark crimson mixed with purple and black before a portal opened up behind her. "Now let's hope Raven is as easy to deal with as our newest members." She muttered to herself as she stepped into it.

 **And that's it!**

 **So, a little spar between the heirs and the introduction of "The Order" also known as the Ozluminati. I just expanded Ozpin's little circle a little bit. Oh, and yes, there will be incorporation of many Naruto characters into this story. I mean, it's either that or a bunch of OCs, so…**

 **With that in mind, don't forget to favorite and follow! Reviews are appreciated!**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	3. Chapter III: Beacon Academy

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya there! Orph here with another chapter of Broken Chains!**

 **I'll skip right to the review answering, ne?**

 **2n2kas: Actually, I was referring to the Kaguya Clan, not Ootsutsuki Kaguya**

 **Without further ado, let's begin!**

 **Chapter III: Beacon Academy**

Warped. That was the only term Naruto could come up with for the place he currently was. It looked like Remnant, but the sky was a bland grey, the flora was various shades of black and oddly shaped - some trees were bent at sharp angles, others had needle-nose trunks that suddenly became voluminous and globular and he swore that one even had the appearance of a Beowolf - and the grass was a sickly yellow color. Could this be the infamous Blight? He had heard stories of the wasteland outside of the Four Kingdoms where Grimm roamed unchecked, the only humans and Faunus were forced to kill to survive and many were mad.

 _Naruto…_

The blonde quickly turned in a circle as the voice reached his ears, looking every direction. The voice was soft and _very_ familiar to the teen. "M-mom?" He stuttered slightly as nervousness and fear came to the forefront of his mind. He dared not move in case the voice not reach him next time. She was already so faint.

 _Naruto, come here._

The second time, he was able to pinpoint that it was coming from the east and headed in that direction. Even though she didn't speak again, he could feel that he was approaching the woman he thought was dead. His gut was twisting in knots only a ranger or sailor could hope to identify but he ignored the feeling, ignored all his instincts that screamed at him to turn around. He should have listened.

 _Naruto._

Kushina was here. Nagato was here. Tsunade was here. Mito was here. Karin was here. Minato was here. All of his family was right here in this glade that stood before his old mansion where there were none of the nightmarish trees. They all stared at him with sickly smiles and _missing_ eyes. Their heads sat atop large, wooden pikes with blood running down the poles as they chanted in unison.

 _Naruto. He killed us. You let him kill us! You have to kill the Bull or we can never find rest! Do it, Naruto! Do it NarUTO! DO IT NARUTO! KILL HIM FOR US! WE'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU DON'T!_

The blonde pressed his hands to his ears as he fell to his knees, trying to block out the screams of over a thousand murder victims screaming at him. He shut his eyes so he wouldn't have to see it even as tears began to stream from his eyes without end. He then fell to the floor, silently hugging his knees as the screaming became such a jumble of noises that it was all white noise. Even his own screaming was lost in the mish-mash of sounds in that glade.

"Naruto!" A new voice appeared in the glade and silenced the other Uzumaki as the blonde teen felt his entire world shake. "Wake up!" Those words seemed to break whatever Naruto was experiencing as what he was seeing literally began to crack like a mirror dropped on concrete before it fell away. The blonde quickly sat up and looked around to see where he was. He didn't actually recognize the location, but he knew it was some sort of private airship by the leather seating, TV screens and the fact that looking out a window showed they were thousands of meters in the air. The only other occupant in the bedroom-sized compartment they were in was the white-haired Heiress, Weiss Schnee.

"What happened? Where are we?" Naruto mumbled as he rubbed one of his eyes, suddenly feeling a bit drowsy. Weiss frowned but took a seat next to the boy.

"You had another one of your nightmares." She explained. "You were screaming in your sleep, just repeatedly saying 'Leave me alone. I didn't kill you. Please leave me alone. I'm sorry.'" Naruto sighed and looked at the ground. "Naruto, will you be okay? You remember that we're heading to Beacon right now, right? You fell asleep on the flight, so we're only another three hours away from Vale. If this sort of thing happens in your dorm or worse, if you get one of your hallucinations in battle…" Naruto could hear the worry creeping into her voice and smiled, despite himself.

"Don't worry so much, Weiss." He told her with a grin as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, his usual energy back in his eyes. "I'll just make a Dream Seal again. It only happened here because I didn't make one to seal my dreams away on the airship, but at Beacon I'll make sure I always have one formed. And you know that my… hallucinations only happen whenever I'm somewhere that looks similar to the Uzumaki manor. As much as I love my family, I _hate_ seeing them like that..."

Weiss fought the urge to push Naruto's arm away, but she let him have his way this time because of the dream he had just had. She never knew what it was he saw in those nightmares of his - and wasn't sure she wanted to know either - but she knew that he used to cry for hours after he woke up if he was alone when it happened. If Winter or her were around, he seemed more at ease though. Winter said it was probably for psychological reasons. He lost everyone, so he hated feeling alone, even for a moment. It was one reason that Winter tried to get her to stay with him as much as possible, she thought.

"It's not like you'll be fighting them alone though." Weiss assured him. "Remember that Winter, Qrow and Mikoto all told us that we'll be on teams of four. And you're not alone against the Fang either, I'm with you every step of the way." Naruto smiled at that, nodding. "Now, could you please remove your arm? I don't want to be mistaken for some sort of girlfriend of yours." Naruto grinned at that, pulling her closer.

"Aw, but Princess, who better than me? Even Winter has said she approves of us. Where else are you going to find someone that Winter approves of?" He teased her. "And we both know how much you need her approval in everything." At this point, a light pink began dusting her cheeks from embarrassment. So, she really did push him away this time. "You're no fun, Princess." He complained.

"That's because you take it too far." She retorted with a huff and crossed her arms. "Maybe you can find someone just as ridiculous as you here and flirt with them, because Dust knows I can't take much more of it." Naruto tapped his chin at the thought before shaking his head.

"Nope. It's too much fun with you. Plus, how could I commit infidelity on you like that?" Weiss' blush darkened half a shade at that comment.

"We aren't even together, you dolt!" She all but screamed at him. His grin only served to infuriate her further. As he let it drop, she began to worry a bit though. "What is it?"

"It's just… after it happened, the story of the Uzumaki was all over the news. Since we were situated in Vale though, more people there know my face than anywhere else. I guess I don't want people to see me for what happened to me instead of what I'm capable of. As far as most of the world is concerned, I disappeared nearly two years ago, after all."

"Well, that just means that there's less chance of someone recognizing you. Even if they do, if someone sees you for your name instead of you as a person, isn't that the same as when a guy tries to flirt with me because I'm a Schnee?" Naruto thought about it and nodded. "And you always tell me to just ignore those people, that they aren't worth the ground I walk on. So, why don't you follow your own advice here? If they see you as Naruto Uzumaki, last heir to the Uzumaki House and only survivor of the war with the Fang, then they aren't worth the ground you walk on."

"Thanks, Weiss."

 **[][][]**

As Weiss had said, it was three hours before the airship landed at Beacon. When it did, the two heirs stepped from it and onto the air docks. Naruto stretched his arms above his head as soon as he was able, grinning at the blazing sun above them. "Man, there's no better feeling than getting off those things." He muttered to himself before dusting off his coat. "So, what should we do, Princess?"

"Well, our bags will be taken care of by the crew." She caught Naruto's arrogant smirk and scowled. "Okay, _my_ bags will be taken care of by the crew. Sometimes I feel like your Storage Seal is cheating too much." He just stuck his tongue out at her. "But with all the Dust I've got packed I think it's best if I supervise the movement so that nothing out of the way happens to it."

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, why not. I mean, it's not like we have anywhere to be before the Headmaster gives his speech at the opening ceremony. I'll tag along with you." The heiress looked at him skeptically. "What? Okay, I promise not to tease or flirt while we're moving your bags of Dust. Happy now, Princess?" She glared at him a bit before nodding with crossed arms. "So, we should probably go after them, huh?" He pointed out while glancing behind him where her bags were all piled up near the edge of the air docks.

Time seemed to slow down for Weiss at what happened next. A girl in a red hood was spun around in the crowd as she left one of the public Bullheads and spat out near Weiss' luggage. She was obviously dizzy and stumbled until she tripped backwards over a cart full of the Dust containers. Weiss sped over so fast to the area that Naruto swore she must've used a Speed Glyph. Meanwhile, he just eased his way over, hands in his pockets. He didn't really hear the conversation but saw Weiss shaking vials of Dust powder under the girl in red's nose and cringed, quickly opening up a Storage Seal in front of him. He was thankful he did as it absorbed the force of the Dust explosion that soon resulted.

Walking over to the two who were now on their backs, he looked down at them. "Soooo… Welcome to Beacon!" He cheerily greeted the two with a wide smile and closed eyes. Both of the girls looked at him with slight glares before forcing themselves to their feet. "Weiss, you know that Dust powder is basically explosive pollen, why would you do that?" She huffed and leveled a harsher glare on the Uzumaki. "Fine, fine. So, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and this lovely ball of sunshine is Weiss Schnee. You should really watch what you're doing."

"R-right… I'm Ruby Rose." Upon hearing her name, Naruto and Weiss shared a glance, recalling she was the step-niece to Qrow and daughter of the missing and presumed dead Summer Rose. _So she's the child genius that Ozpin let in early. She must have no idea that her name and her Eyes make her so important to the Order._ "I'm… um… I'm really sorry about that, I just got pushed around in that mosh pit and couldn't see where I was going!" Naruto chuckled at the girl's obvious nerves, and it helped ease his own.

"Well, Ruby, don't worry about the Princess so much." He whispered to her while jerking a thumb back in her direction. "She's just so uppity all the time. Give her some time and she'll eventually warm up to you though." He glanced back at the glaring heiress. "Make that a _really_ long time." He then turned to his friend. "Weiss, just let me seal these up, really. It will make it so much easier on us."

"Why? So I can let you have access to all of my possessions?" She demanded to know.

"Hey, why do I need anything of yours? In case you've forgotten, you're just an heiress." He pointed out. Ruby became confused at the conversation the two were having.

"Just an heiress? Who are you two?" She asked. Before either could answer, a fourth person found their way into the conversation.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation and Naruto Uzumaki, current head of Whirlpool Refining and Forging." The newcomer was a rather attractive girl with pale skin and yellow eyes. She wore a white blouse with a black petticoat over it, buttoned up, but showing off a small part of her stomach, as well as a pair of black pants. Atop her head was a black bow and at her hip was a ninjato. "The SDC is infamous for immoral ethics towards Faunus employees and questionable business partners while the WRF have been at war with the White Fang for the last two and a half years." The girl looked at Naruto and a mixture of sympathy, pity and… something else could be seen in her eyes.

Ruby looked at them a moment before stars lit up her eyes and she dashed to Naruto, rose petals flying in her wake. "You're the head of _the_ Whirpool Refining and Forging? The same company that owns over 70% of all weapon and Dust shops in the Four Kingdoms and runs all the major weapon enthusiast magazines?" Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head nervously with a small nod. "Wow~ I didn't know that you'd be going here!" Ruby continued rambling on and on, as she showed Naruto her scythe.

Weiss could only watch in morbid fascination as Naruto was caught up in the conversation and the two began to discuss their respective weapons, talking about the perks and flaws of different styles and which Dust was best for what type of attack. "Oh my Dust… there's two of them…" She muttered in horror.

It became even worse when Naruto showed off Adamantium Whirlpool's twin scythe form with blades on both top and bottom. At that point, Weiss tried to back up from the pair of weapon geeks, only to trip over her own luggage in the process. The loud noise caught the attention of Naruto and Ruby, who were both holding their scythes, and they looked over at her. Quickly putting their weapons up, they helped the girl up. "Naruto, please just seal them so we can go." Weiss muttered in defeat. Naruto grinned widely as he placed his hands on the ground.

"Um, Ruby, you may want to step back a little." He told her. The hooded girl was confused, but complied, standing next to Weiss. His golden Aura then flared to life around his palms and a large seal was drawn into the docks themselves. Weiss had her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently while Ruby watched in fascination. In an instant, everything touching the seal disappeared from existence and the seal was absorbed back into Naruto's Aura. Standing, he grinned. "Storage complete, Princess." Naruto and Weiss began walking while Ruby just stood there, staring at the space that the luggage had been before. "You coming, Red?" Naruto asked.

This seemed to break her out of her stupor and she rushed forward back to the two heirs. "What was that, Naruto? Was that your Semblance?" She asked with innocent curiosity. He nodded. "What is it?"

"My family, the Uzumaki House, have one of the few hereditary Semblances in Remnant. Everyone in the Uzumaki Bloodline can use something called Seals. It's complicated to explain the theory behind it, but in essence it's like this: when I arrange my Aura into certain symbols in a certain order, I can seal things away, unseal them and manipulate things inside of seals for a bunch of purposes. What I just did was create a pocket dimension to store Weiss' belongings in that I can access at any time. While they're there, I can control any physical laws in the storage dimension, or I can just pull them out of it at any time. Storage Seals are the most basic of all Seals my family has created though."

When he looked at Ruby, her eyes were spinning wildly, so he sighed. "It's a difficult thing to understand, even for me and I've been learning to use my Semblance for almost a decade. When you see it in action, it will probably make more sense though." Ruby nodded, though confusion was still evident in her eyes.

"Basically, his Semblance lets him cheat the laws of physics." Weiss offered while glaring at the boy.

"This coming from the girl who can literally alter gravity and velocity at a whim?" He retorted immediately. Ruby watched as the two glared at each other so viciously that she could swear she saw lightning connecting their blue eyes. A moment later, it was over and they walked as normal. "Anyways, we should get to the Auditorium so we can attend the Entrance Ceremony. You got any friends here with you, Red?" He asked. "You look about two years younger than the other freshman. I know the feeling of being somewhere with no one familiar to you."

"I… yeah… I had to leave all my friends back at Signal." She admitted. "I mean, the opportunity to be here was _soooo_ great, because I can be a Huntress quicker and I get to see all these great weapons and their partners but…"

"Well, Red, don't feel too lonely." Naruto pointed out as he wrapped his arms around Ruby and Weiss' shoulders, pulling the three together. "We're all friends from now on." The red-hooded girl looked at him in surprise while Weiss just gave him a skeptical gaze. "Don't be like that Weiss." He scolded.

"You really mean it?" Ruby asked with a grin.

"Where else am I gonna find someone with such great taste in weapons, Red?" Naruto questioned jokingly. "But yeah, let's be friends, Ruby. What do you say?" She grabbed Crescent Rose at the same time that Naruto grabbed Adamantium Whirlpool and both extended to scythe forms. They lifted them up high and crossed the blades with matching grins. Then the two looked at Weiss, who was honestly creeped out with how in sync they were.

"...fine…" She mumbled as she unsheathed Myrtenaster and struck the arms of their weapons with her blade. Had she been paying more attention - or any of them for that matter - they might have noted that her Dust revolver was set to lightning.

Needless to say, their first day was already turning into a _shocking_ endeavor.

 **And that's it!**

 **So, Naruto has PLENTY of side-effects from his past. As the story goes on, you'll be able to see the symptoms that Adam has caused Naruto to suffer from, but for now that dream is all I'm telling you about.**

 **Aside from that, don't forget to favorite and follow! Reviews are much appreciated!**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	4. Chapter IV: Opening Ceremony

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya there! Long time no see!**

 **Sorry for the** _ **long**_ **absence, but life just gets in the way. I won't bore you with excuses, but I** _ **will**_ **gift you with this chapter and say that I have some more things on the way. I won't get specific though.**

 **This one isn't too long, but it does open up the next chapter to be a longer one, so that's its whole purpose, more or less.**

 **Anywho! I'll just let you read!**

 **Chapter IV: Opening Ceremony**

"I hate you." Weiss spoke those three words because they were the _only_ thing that possibly came close to what she was currently feeling towards her cousin as they walked towards the auditorium for the Entrance Ceremony. Her normally well-kept and snowy locks were frizzed and sticking out in every which direction even as she attempted to brush it down with a comb Naruto provided her. "I hate you and all you embody."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I must've forgot to switch my Dust Revolver to _literally anything_ but Lightning Dust. Oh, wait… that's right, it was _you_ and not me that did that." He replied in kind while glaring in what he thought was her direction, though the blurring of his vision made it very hard to tell if he was successful. He formed two Time Displacement Seals - one in front of his face and the other behind his head - to increase the time speed of his eyes, grinning as he could finally focus his vision once more.

"Oh… I just hope Yang doesn't find out about this. She'll be making lightning puns for _weeks_." Ruby muttered with a cringe. "Can we… possibly never talk about this to anyone? Like, ever?" She asked with sincerity as she sped in front of the other two, stopping them in their tracks. They looked down at the nervous girl, who hadn't even attempted to fix her hair - which was standing straight up as if to mimic Naruto's own spikes.

"Well, that could be difficult if anyone sees your new hairdo." Naruto pointed out as a seal appeared above Ruby's head and dumped some water into her hair. He then supplied the girl with her own comb. "Make yourself presentable and then we'll see, Red." She looked at him in confusion before a new seal appeared in front of her and she saw her reflection. "This is my Light Seal. I can seal light in an area into it and manipulate it using the seal. Right now I'm causing it to act like a mirror by reflecting one side and becoming opaque on the other. It should help." She nodded and began to quickly comb her hair and within five minutes grinned, handing the comb back to Naruto. He resealed it and absorbed the remaining Aura from his Light Seal before looking at the heiress. "Ruby finished in five minutes, you are no longer allowed to say half an hour of fixing your hair is a 'girl thing', got it?"

The comment only served to make the girl angrier as she huffed and turned away, fixing her hair as best she could. "Um… is she normally this… grumpy?" Ruby asked in a low voice, though apparently not low enough.

"I am _not_ grumpy!" Weiss nearly shouted, stomping one of her heeled feet as she glared at the red-hooded girl. Ruby let out a startled 'Eep!' and hid behind Naruto, who just gave her a look. Weiss blushed heavily and turned away from them as she used a large hair tie to make her side ponytail, though without the normal curling it had. "I hate the both of you." She finally said.

"Aww, I love you too, Princess!" Naruto replied with a grin as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders, the other around Ruby's so the three were pulled together. Weiss glared at him while Ruby just looked at the blonde with a mix of joy and awkwardness. "I mean, what are friends for?" Weiss looked ready to explode, but ultimately sighed at his antics.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you…" She muttered in exasperation before pushing him away as they reached a large building. "Here we are, so don't do that anymore. I don't want anyone thinking that we're involved." She commanded.

"Involved?" Ruby asked curiously as Naruto released her from his hook as well. "What does she mean?"

Naruto grinned at this point, while Weiss sighed again. "You see, Princess over here is under the delusions of grandeur and thinks that if anyone knows that the two of us are together that she'll lose reputation. I think it would just make her seen in higher standing though." Weiss blushed heavily at his assessment.

"WE ARE NOT TOGETHER, YOU DOLT!" She yelled at him while swinging Myrtenaster, which he dodged by stepping back.

"You see, Red? She's utterly and hopelessly in denial of her feelings." He pointed out while ducking under a few bolts of Ice Dust she sent at him.

"Um… I don't think you're quite right about that." Ruby pointed out tentatively as Naruto continued to dodge attacks that Weiss threw at him. "Guys? We might want to head inside. I think they're about to start. Hello? Naruto? Weiss?" The two seemed to be in their own world, ignoring her. Though her quiet voice may have had something to do with it too. With that in mind, she spoke up a little. "Hey, it's going to start soon!" Naruto and Weiss heard her, both looking at the girl. She grinned until she saw the Weiss tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and flew forward, running into Naruto. The blonde fell flat on his back and Weiss right on top of him.

"Ruby, you dolt..." Weiss complained as she slowly sat up, shaking the cobwebs from her head. When her eyes landed on a ruby-face Ruby, the heiress became confused. That is, until she looked down and saw the… compromising position that she was in. The Schnee was straddling her blonde cousin atop his pelvis. As Naruto looked up at her with a small grin she could _swear_ she felt something begin poking against her leg. Her ivory skin began to slowly match Ruby's hood as she realized what was happening.

"I didn't know you were quite so _forward_ , Princess." Naruto teased her mercilessly with a wide grin. The white-haired girl looked absolutely paralyzed at the comment before her lips twisted into a snarl and she quickly stood, crossing her arms with a loud 'Hmph!'. Naruto chuckled and stood, looking over at Ruby, who was still frozen in embarrassment. "Hey, Red? You're, uh… red, all over." Ruby blinked and shook her head violently, the color in her face returning to normal. "So, you were saying it's gonna start soon?" She nodded. "Let's go then!" Without reservations, Naruto pulled the two girls inside, ignoring any and all protests they sent his way.

As they entered, the trio noted the large crowd of freshmen that stood in front of the stage. Looking around, their gazes were drawn to a blonde girl suddenly as she waved at Ruby. The girl had long, curled, blonde hair and bright, violet eyes that reminded Naruto of his parents. She was wearing a brown, short-sleeved coat that showed off her midriff and a yellow top beneath it showing above her coat's neckline. She also wore a pair of _very_ short, black shorts with a brown belt. She also had on a pair of brown boots with orange socks, one pulled over her left knee while the other just only peeked above her right boot. On either wrist she was also wearing a gold bracelet. "Hey, Ruby, I saved you a spot!"

The red-hooded girl looked from her new friends to her sister and signalled them to follow her. All three of them joined Yang in the front. "Sooooo~ Who are your new friends, little sis?" Yang wondered, looking over both of the heirs. "Especially tall, blonde and handsome over here, he's a cutie." She then purred a bit, giving Naruto a wink.

"Right back at you, Blondie." Naruto replied without missing a beat, looking her up and down without hiding it. "If all the girls are this cute I'm glad I chose Beacon." Violet eyes met cerulean without either of them blushing, though of course Ruby and Weiss were. Then again, only Ruby's was out of embarrassment.

"I can't believe there's two of them!" Somehow the red and white-themed girls spoke that in synch as they watched the interaction. The two then looked at each other before Weiss turned her head away.

"Will you two dolts cut it out?" Weiss demanded, gaining the attention of both blondes. "Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever meet someone nearly as bad as Naruto, and definitely not a girl."

"Getting jealous that I'm flirting with another girl, Princess?" Naruto teased the snowy-haired girl, enjoying the blush that erupted.

"I am going to literally kill you Naruto…" she muttered. "And when I do, I'll finally be free from you…"

Yang seemingly didn't hear it. "Aw, don't worry! I won't steal your boyfriend, I was just doing a little harmless flirting, is all." Naruto grinned wide at the notion, wrapping an arm around Weiss' shoulder.

"Yeah, don't worry Princess. You'll always have my heart, body and soul and no one could possibly take me from you." Weiss was no longer her pale tone and seemingly had turned completely red with anger at the barrage of teasing from the blonde duo. She would've erupted into a storm of tongue lashing if not for a voice cutting into their conversation.

"I'll… keep this brief." The quartet looked up at the stage to spot Professor Ozpin, their Headmaster. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you finish, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." _Or the destruction of a particular person._ Naruto thought darkly. "But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction." The Uzumaki clenched his fist, feeling those words like a knife in his gut. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

"Naruto, don't let it get to you." He heard Weiss quietly mumble to him and nodded, relaxing himself.

"Thanks Weiss. Sorry." She nodded with a small smile as Glynda stepped up to the microphone, casting a serious gaze over the crowd of initiates.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Her no-nonsense tone and curt statements left little room for argument or assumption as she turned heel and left after the Headmaster.

"Naruto, are you okay?" The blonde heard Ruby's voice and shook the lingering thoughts of Adam away before smiling, though it was particularly strained.

"Don't worry, Red. I was just thinking about something Ozpin's words reminded me of. No big deal." She nodded with her own smile. "Let's head to the auditorium, alright?" The hooded girl looked at him a bit skeptically but followed her two new friends. Yang was right behind them, grinning proudly that her little sister already made _living_ friends and not just talking to Crescent Rose.

 **[][][]**

"What are you doing, Naruto?" The blonde looked up from his scroll to look at Weiss, who he noted was wearing her light blue, nearly white nightgown. He, meanwhile, was dressed in an orange shirt and shorts. "You've been on your scroll for the last half hour and haven't talked since we arrived here. It's just a bit… disconcerting."

The blonde smiled to the snowy-haired heiress. "Don't worry about me, Weiss. I'm fine, really. I was just looking at some Fang sightings and going back over our directions from Mikoto and Winter. Nothing too big." The girl held out her hand and Naruto smiled, handing his scroll over to her to look through.

"Wait, you said Fang sightings, so why are you looking at this string of robberies from Roman Torchwick?" She asked curiously.

"When I was talking to Winter last week she mentioned something about Roman being involved in robberies of Dust shops. Far too many for just selling to the black market, more like he was arming a large group of soldiers. Roman isn't employed by any of the gangs in Vale, Vacuo, Mistral or Atlas, as far as we know, but the robberies connected to him are occurring in all four Kingdoms. Not Menagerie though. What organization do we know of that has members in all four Kingdoms and would want to keep Menagerie out of the conflict?"

Weiss pursed her lips and sighed. "I'd like to say you're just reading too much into it and wanting to find a way to blame this on the Fang, but I don't know… We'll need to get some intelligence from whoever they assigned as our handler here and you know it."

"I wasn't suggesting we do anything about it yet. You're right though, I was planning on questioning whoever is here with us to find out if the Order has looked into this as well. We'll have to put it off for now though." He sighed and took his Scroll back from Weiss as she handed it back. "We've got our Initiation tomorrow and then all sorts of things after that, so we have far too much to focus on before the Fang can be addressed."

"I guess you're right. I just hope that however the teams get set up, we can move somewhat freely." This caused Naruto to close his eyes thoughtfully and sigh, falling back onto his futon. "What?"

"Coming here is great, it really is. Vale holds much more Fang than Atlas, I'm closer to my home and all the influence that gives me and I get to attend the top combat Academy in the Kingdoms. It just comes with so many complex problems along with it that we can't control. We can't even make plans until we have our teams and thanks to Mikoto, we know that we don't even get to pick our partners. I just hope Professor Ozpin is sympathetic to our cause."

"Well, Winter said he was an enigma that did what he wanted and no one could effectively predict his actions, so I doubt we can count on him one way or the other." Seeing the blonde's breathing slow a bit, she placed a hand on his shoulder, watching as he opened his eyes. "Did you set your Dream Seal?" At a nod, she smiled. "Alright, good night, Naruto."

"Night, Princess." He smiled back and fell into the bliss of unconsciousness, comforted by the fact Weiss was nearby. Comforted by his Dream Seal preventing his night terrors. Comforted that soon, oh so very soon, he would have Adam and the Fang by the throat and show them that the Uzumaki Clan would not back down from a conflict, down to the very last member.

 **And that's it!**

 **Next up we'll have the Initiation and teams being set up, so look forward to that!**

 **Also, should I make some trailers for Naruto and the other Narutoverse characters that I'm putting in his class? There will be a total of four Narutoverse characters that take place in the Emerald Forest, though not all on the same team.**

 **Regardless of that answer, thanks for taking the time to read this and being patient with my hiatus! I hope to update much more often now that my things have been sorted out.**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	5. Chapter V: Initiation

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya again!**

 **So, to apologize for the long hiatus and the short update a few days ago, I went ahead and whipped this up for you guys! I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

 **Not really much in the way of review answering, so that means we can just start:**

 **Chapter V: Initiation**

It was early the next morning that Naruto's day began. Despite a dreamless sleep, Naruto's biological clock was still very accurate and he was pleasantly surprised when he noted he had risen with the sun. Though, it was an unpleasant surprise when he noted that he was one of _very_ few who used dawn as an alarm clock. Another of them was Weiss, who had sat up within a second of himself doing so with a soft yawn. "Ready to finally begin the first step, Princess?" Naruto asked with a grin, gaining a serious nod from his co-conspirator.

"Even if we don't get on the same team, I'm still always at your side." She replied as they stood. In a flash of gold, Naruto's attire had changed so he now wore his battle gear, Adamantium Whirlpool in its two meter form slung across his back like a staff. "Cheater…" As quickly as she had been serious, Weiss changed to a tone that was definitely not whining.

Naruto's response was to stick his tongue out at her and create a seal that dropped her battle attire and Myrtenaster into her outstretched hands. "I don't complain about you manipulating gravity, so no complaining when I can instantly change clothes." With a tilt of her nose upwards and a simple hmph in response, she left to locate a bathroom to change. While it was true that they had lockers, even she had to admit that Naruto's Storage Seals were infinitely more useful _and_ accessible since the two of them were together most of the time.

With the Schnee heiress gone, Naruto looked around the room to note that only two others were already up. He recognized one as the ravenette from yesterday who had explained his and Weiss' dynasties to Ruby, while the other was another familiar face - Pyrrha Nikos. His company had sponsored three of the Regional Tournaments that she won. Despite being at war, both his mother and Nagato still had a business to run. He did as well, for that matter, and so he had kept the sponsorship running even during his… episodes at the Schnee manor.

He decided to leave the two of them be for now though. It was a tactical decision that was based on… his vibrating scroll. Pulling it out and noting the contact information, the blonde made his way out of the ballroom and answered once he was out the door, smiling at the woman on the other end. "Good morning, Winter."

"Good morning, Naruto. I hope you're doing well. I was sure you had already awoken and I'm glad to see that you didn't get lazy just because I'm not around." There was no malice in her tone and the mischievous grin that the white-haired woman wore showed that it was all in good fun. Naruto returned the grin with one of his own.

"Of course not. Plus, I've got Weiss here with me and we both know she wants to emulate you so much that she'd do all the kicking me out of bed that you would." She chuckled at that before gaining a more serious look in her greyish-blue eyes. "What is it?"

"I know that the two of you want to rid the world of the Fang, but I want you to hold off on that for just a bit, okay?" Naruto's own cerulean orbs narrowed at the statement, but he didn't argue. "You don't want to garner the attention of Adam, or, worse yet, Sienna Khan. Not yet anyways. I'll help you with this endeavor, Naruto, but you have to do things the right way this time. You don't have the Uzumaki Clan to send out and you already saw what a one-man crusade ends with. No, you need to do many things before you're even close to being ready to take on the Captains, let alone Khan himself."

The blonde sighed and nodded, understanding her point. "Good… you've got Weiss and I, so your forces aren't completely empty, but you'll need a lot more Huntsmen on your side before you can launch an all-out war on the Fang. You understand that, right? You can't count on the Order as a whole, but that doesn't mean you can't convince specific members to aid you, whether from loyalty or by gaining favor. Then there's people in Beacon itself that might be good candidates."

"I know all that, Winter." Naruto interrupted. "The problem is that I can't do _any_ of that until my team is made and I meet our handler. Until I have a plan, Weiss and I just have to do our best to get as strong as possible and fly beneath the Fang's radar." Winter smiled at the more patient approach that her student was taking this time. "It's not just the Fang I have to worry about here in Vale though. Now that I'm back… I've got to worry about the company and get my hands on the scrolls from the Mansion and from the WRF HQ."

Winter nodded at that. "Yes, that should definitely be a priority as well. The WRF will be a major advantage in arming your forces and funding a war on the Fang. Then there's the scrolls of your family… if they're anything like the Schnee Tomes, then having the knowledge of how your ancestors used the Semblance will be a great advantage in your style. A Bloodline as old as the Uzumaki is bound to have more than a few Lost Arts fit to strike fear in the hearts of our enemy."

"Yeah…" The blonde stopped, looking back and shook his head. "Anyways, Weiss should be getting back soon, so I'll see you Winter. I'll call you after our teams are made and let you know what happens, okay?" The snowy-haired Huntress nodded.

"Take care, and make sure to watch after my sister, okay?" Naruto nodded back, smiling to his teacher. "Good luck and have fun in your initiation. I know I did." With that, the screen shut off when the connection was lost. Putting his Scroll back in his coat, he headed back inside, noting that a few other students were waking up now, and also that Weiss had just walked back inside, fully dressed and prepared in her normal attire. Walking over to the white-themed girl, Naruto led her back down the way she came, gaining her attention at the insistence.

"Winter called while you were out." He explained as they walked down the empty hall, confident that would give him her undivided attention. He was right. "She just wanted to warn us not to go after the Fang for a time, to build up our strength and allies before we attempt it."

"She should know that we won't do that sort of thing." Weiss replied a bit indignantly, unsure how to react to such little faith from her sister. Then again, it was likely more directed at Naruto, and she _did_ go along with a lot of Naruto's more… reckless plans over the last year… _Wow… I can't even be upset at her…_

"Anymore. We won't do that sort of thing anymore." Naruto gave his own two lien to her comment. "Anyways, she agreed with me when I brought up that my priorities are becoming head of the WRF again and locating the Whirlpool Scrolls."

"Yeah, even if I _am_ heiress, father is the head of the SDC right now, so that won't do us any good aside from the influence I can throw around. But if you gain control of the WRF once more, then we can use the influence and funding from that to accelerate our plans that much further. For now though… we can't do much."

"Except recruit whoever our team is." He gained a nod from her direction as the pair of them found their way to the cafeteria and began collecting what food they thought looked appetizing on their plates. "If we do that, it makes moving around freely that much easier. Again, that will have to wait until we know _who_ our teammates are and if we're even on the same team."

"There's just too many variables…" She muttered as they found seats and bit into an apple. "I know that war is complex, but this is just ridiculous…"

"Weiss, we're two Apprentice Huntsmen attempting to create an army from the ground up and fight off a group of fundamentalist terrorists. It was never going to be an easy affair. That said, a whole lot easier this way than the first method I tried…" Weiss noted the way he darkened just thinking about his failed crusade and frowned, reaching across the table to grab his hand. This gained his attention and she smiled to him.

"Naruto, we can't change the past. The Fang… you already know everything they've taken from me. It doesn't come close to what you lost, but we're in this together, to the end, no matter what we have to do. I made a promise to you and I intend to keep that promise. We _will_ see the Fang crumble for the crimes they've committed and no one will stop us. Not Adam. Not Sienna. Not the sympathizers, or the supporters. No one."

He grinned, regaining that fiery resolve in his eyes at her words. "Yeah, we'll show the world that the Fang won't go unpunished. You're absolutely right."

 **[][][]**

After breakfast, the duo skipped past the locker rooms - given they were already combat ready - and straight to the rendezvous location for Initiation. It was a cliff that overlooked an enormous sea of trees aptly called the Emerald Forest. They had been joined by Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha, the ravenette from before and several other initiates, each standing on square tiles and facing Professor Ozpin and his deputy headmistress, Professor Goodwitch. Ozpin held his mug in hand while Glynda Goodwitch had a scroll in hers.

"For years you have been trained to become warriors." The silver-haired man started, his eyes scanning the more than thirty students currently gathered. "Today, your skills will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Many of the potential apprentice Huntsmen looked excited, some looked nervous while a few gained very serious looks, ready to prove themselves.

Glynda took her turn next, looking up from her tablet Scroll with stern eyes. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors regarding the assignment of teams. Allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… today." At that notion, some of those who were excited looked decidedly less so while those who were already nervous, well…

"WHAT?" Naruto and Weiss turned to see that it was, in fact, Ruby who reacted so extremely to the announcement.

Ozpin ignored the outburst, sipping on his mug with one hand behind his back. "These teams will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon. "So it would be in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well." Naruto and Weiss glanced to each other, determination in their eyes as they nodded. "That said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Determination gave way to hopelessness as their eyes shot towards the headmaster. Winter had said only Ozpin would know _exactly_ how teams were decided until Initiation, but this was… this was just too random. No one among the potential students had any excitement left, it had been drained by so few words from the headmaster.

"After you've partnered up, you will make your way to the northern end of the forest." He continued after taking another sip. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you _will_ die." Naruto let his nerves pass as he clenched his fist, grinning at the challenge. "You will be monitored and graded during your performance but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must retrieve one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

A blonde boy wearing a chest plate that looked too big for his frame and a sword at his hip attempted to ask something, but Naruto ignored it. Instead, he grabbed Adamantium Whirlpool as Ozpin commanded "Alright, get in position." Taking a stable stance, with his staff in both hands, he couldn't help but grin when the first member of the group was launched off her pad. Then the next and the next… though the boy who kept trying to ask questions was a bit annoying.

He watched as the people he had met or knew from before were launched one by one, as well as several people he didn't know but might meet in the future. Before Ruby was gone, but after Yang had, he ruffled her hair, smiling to the girl. Naruto watched as that nervousness steeled into resolve as she went flying. "Naruto." He turned his attention to Weiss as she gained his attention. "No matter what, no matter who our partners here are, we're partners like we've always been." He grinned and nodded.

"Don't worry Princess, I'm not gonna leave you for any of these other girls, so no need to get nervous about that. We'll always be together!" Weiss' compassion bled into frustration as he spoke until she turned away, not even watching as he was launched. That inevitably turned to regret as she now had no idea where he landed. Sighing, she prepared herself to be launched while wishing the bumbling fool next to her would just shut up and be launched quietly like everyone else.

As soon as he was launched through the air, Naruto had separated the staff form of his weapon into their twin sickle mode and activated his Chain Seal. Throwing the first one, he pulled the chains in such a way that it hooked onto a large branch and then allowed his momentum to pull him back. Landing with a high point of view to look at the sea of green, but nothing beneath the canopy, he was forced to make his way to the ground to find anything.

Landing softly, Naruto allowed his chains to disappear and focused his Aura into a seal on the ground with a radius of three meters, intricately designed to appear like a white flame with several runes and kanji making it up. This was his Sonar Seal and allowed him to extend his senses far beyond what normal Aura training could. Closing his eyes, he felt out for strong sources of Aura and Blight - the energy that made up Grimm. He didn't so much detect them as his seal allowed him to feel warmth - and lack thereof - in an area, to feel frequencies that humans and most Faunus could not normally feel. Aura was easily identifiable as areas where there was a concentration of warmth, each one having a unique feel to it. Blight was not easily detectable on its own, but rather, could be found by voids in an area where the warmth of Aura should be. Even fauna and flora had that ambient warmth, so in a forested area like this Grimm wouldn't be difficult to locate.

At the same time, finding the other apprentices _would_ because of the interference of the ambient energy. _I can't even feel Weiss' signature here and I can usually find her wherever she is when I use this. I guess I'm just going to have to wander aimlessly and hope I find her, or I could fight some Grimm and meet someone that's strong. Maybe. Hm… too many variables, just like Weiss said. This is tough._

Shaking his head from those thoughts, Naruto absorbed the seal back into his Aura and decided to wander towards where the temple should be. There was no use in standing idly by and waiting for Grimm to find him, right?

 **[][][]**

Weiss grumbled to herself as she cut away branches in her way with Myrtenaster, cursing Naruto for making her look away. She just knew that he wanted this to happen. Just like always, things not going to plan was his fault. She was so intent on moving forward, she never felt the rising heat of the area until it was too late.

She had found herself in a large glade with several Beowolves dying and many, many more still alive and well. In the center of the pack was one of the initiates. She had shoulder-length black hair, pink eyes and was wielding a pair of large balisong, one coated in smoke and the other surrounded in mist. She was wearing a red shirt with only one sleeve, a maroon vest over that, red shorts and a coat of a similar shade tied around her waist. Beneath the shorts was fishnet down to her ankles and a pair of sandals on her feet.

The Schnee watched as the girl became a flurry of smoke and mist, tearing into the Grimm around her. The smoking balisong tore through limbs and masks like butter while the misty one soaked its victims in water, slowing them down from the extra weight.

She was impressive for sure. _She's definitely strong enough for our team._ Weiss grinned to herself. She would've liked to have someone like Pyrrha, but as long as it wasn't that annoying blonde, she'd be content. Creating a Speed Glyph, she dashed forward she tore through several of the Beowolves with a fire coated Myrtenaster. "You looked like you could use some help."

The girl grinned while shifting her balisong into a pair of pistols, launching volleys of Lava and Water Dust bullets into a few more of the pack. "Thanks. I'm Kurotsuchi, by the way."

"Weiss." The fencer responded while swinging her sword and launching several bolts of fire at the pack. "No problem. What are partners for?"

 **[][][]**

A few kilometers away was Yang, wandering around without any real purpose or plan, aviator sunglasses still adorned and a carefree grin on her lips. She wasn't too worried about who her partner might be, it would probably work out in the end no matter what happened. Things usually did.

Of course, the strange noise she heard to her left _did_ make her curious, so she turned that way and peered over a bush. "Ruby?" As soon as she saw a pair of Ursa in the glade who made eye contact with her she felt her grin falter slightly. "Nope!" That seemed to be some sort of trigger and one of the Ursa rushed forward, trying to swipe her with its claw, only to catch leaves and air as she backpedaled. The two bracelets on her arms shifted into gauntlets as she pulsed her Aura with a grin that reeked of battle-lust. Once Ember Celica was out, Yang made her own rush for the beast, launched punches that barraged the Grimm with shotgun shells full of Explosion Dust with each hit.

When the second Ursa tried to blindside her with its own claw swipe, Yang performed a double back handspring and took a stance, grinning widely. "It'll take more than tha-..." She stopped short as she watched a strand of her golden hair fall slowly in front of her violet orbs, widened them. That easygoing grin immediately changed into a fierce scream as she brought her fists together and her Aura became fiery.

In an instant, she was in front of the Ursa that dared trim her bangs, launching a flurry of bone-breaking punches into its stomach, face, arms, pretty much anything that was within her range. It ended with a straight jab that launched the bear Grimm _through_ a tree. When it began dispersing into Blight particles, she turned on the other one and readied herself to bumrush that one as well…

If it hadn't fell to the floor with a large icicle through its spin the next moment, that is. Behind the Ursa was a black-haired figure wearing a strange white mask that had a red spiral starting from the left cheek, its hair in a ponytail with two hair cuffs keeping locks of hair on either side of its face to the side. The person wore a teal haori and hakama pants and had a strange weapon strapped to their back. It was what appeared to be a large sword, or what was once one. The hilt was a foot in length, the cross guard as wide as two hands and a blade about fourteen inches long, but without a tip. It was as if it had been snapped short and was supposed to be _much_ larger. The figure removed the mask as Yang looked at them and showed herself to have a _very_ feminine face with porcelain skin, chocolate eyes and soft features.

"Well, heya there! You really chilled him out, huh?" Yang asked with a grin, her Aura returning to its normal state. "Name's Yang, what about you?"

The girl smiled and stepped over the pile of Grimm dust, walking over to Yang. "I am Haku Yuki, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Yang." Haku replied easily. "I hope you are not mad that I took your kill, I didn't know how to introduce myself and my master always says that killing Grimm is the best way to make an impression." Yang grinned and found it hard to contain a small chuckle, wrapping an arm around Haku's shoulder.

"Oh, I'm gonna like you, I can already tell."

 **[][][]**

After landing thanks to using her scythe's recoil, Ruby had immediately began to look for Yang, Weiss or Naruto. She was _not_ going to be partnered with someone that would be mean to her because she was young or because she was a weapons geek. She just wanted to be partners with a friend! Was that too much to ask?

These were the thoughts running through her head as she ran through the forest up until the moment she ran into someone else doing the same thing. "Ow…" Ruby groaned as she grabbed the back of her head and rubbed it gently, looking around for what tree she hit. Instead, she only found a girl that looked a year above the other Initiates with dark blue, nearly purple hair tied in a spiked ponytail, black eyes and enough lipstick for it to be noticeable. She wore a forest green kimono with a large, white lily emblem on the right side of its lower half and kept together by a thick rope tied around her waist into a large bow at the back. The collar of her kimono had a low neckline that was lined with fur and revealed a red shirt beneath it. The kimono also ended just past her knees, though it was slightly open from her mid-thigh downwards, revealing the thigh-high socks beneath plated with steel and boots she wore on her feet. On either arm she had what appeared to be bluish-white crystal blades growing and behind her was a group of Nevermore ranging from crow-sized to that of large dogs.

The girl looked at Ruby with such intensity that she shriveled up, until she looked back at the Grimm again and steeled herself. Jumping to her feet, Ruby took Crescent Rose from its holster and unleashed its scythe form, disappearing in a trail of her signature petals. Several of the flying Grimm went from living to bisected in the space of a second, which was enough to divert the attention of the murder from the girl to Ruby. The bluenette used the opportunity to catch her breath and held out her hands, her Aura flaring up as she crystallized the air around herself. When she had finished, several snowflake-like shuriken were in hand that she launched into the group of Nevermore. Between the two female Initiates, the murder was gone within minutes.

"Thanks for that." The girl said in between breaths as her blades receded into her skin. "I don't know how much longer I could have lasted against them. There was just too many of them to slice apart. I'm Guren, by the way." Ruby looked at the girl's outstretched hand and smiled, shaking it with a wide grin.

"I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose!" Maybe she _would_ be paired up with a friend after all. "Nice to meet you!" Guren smiled back, glad she had met someone decent instead of some of the more… arrogant Initiates she had observed yesterday.

 **[][][]**

"Hm… and now even Ruby has a partner." Naruto grumbled as he walked, his Radar Seal moving on the ground with him as he walked. He wasn't really too caring about _where_ he was going, just trying to find an Aura signature large enough to be one of the Initiates. When two or more large signatures were in one area, it became much easier to discern nuances in them, which is how he knew that Weiss, Pyrrha, Ruby and Yang already had partners. That left him with no one else that he actually knew as a potential partner. _Well, there is that Winchester kid, but I don't like the idea of pairing up with the heir to one of the WRF's rival businesses._ Shaking that thought from his head, Naruto sighed.

It was then that his Seal picked something up and he grinned, recognizing the Aura he detected. He didn't exactly _know_ the person, but he had met her momentarily the first day. It seemed that she was trailing him, for some reason. Reabsorbing the seal into his Aura, Naruto crafted a Time Displacement Seal and found himself in the branch of a tree the next second, sitting next to the perpetrator, who was standing. She was looking down where he had just been, but was confused when he was no longer there. "Well, hello there." As quickly as he had spoken, the girl jumped back and brandished a ninjato in hand, pointing it at him. "I know that you know who I am, but I never got your name yesterday."

She narrowed her eyes but sighed, sheathing her weapon. "I'm Blake Belladonna." Naruto grinned, jumping up to his feet. The motion shook the branch slightly, but neither of them wavered in their stance. "What did you do just now?" She asked in curiosity. "I saw that Seal of yours change slightly and suddenly… you weren't there."

The blonde grinned and jumped to another branch in front of him, motioning for her to follow. She stayed a moment before the two of them began to hop from branch to branch. "That was a Time Displacement Seal. I can change the dilution of time to varying degrees when using it, though only how it affects me and the general environment unless someone triggers a Seal Trap. I haven't mastered it in even the barest definition. Anyways, I changed how time affected me for the space of one real-time second so that it moved about fifty times slower around me, allowing me to get to the branch before you could notice. It still take a _lot_ of focus to do even just fifty times, so not really battle-ready yet… but yeah, that's how I seemed to teleport."

Blake nodded but offered no other reaction to his explanation. Given the girl knew who he was and also knew what Seals were, he assumed that she wasn't impressed as people usually were when he stated he could affect the movement of time. After all, it was more of a basic level seal compared to some of things his ancestors had pulled off.

"Do you have anything to tell us how far off from the temple we are?" Blake idly wondered, hopeful. Naruto pondered the query and shook his head. "Didn't think so. Let's move a little faster then. Hopefully we'll get there soon." With that, she increased her own pace, forcing Naruto to do the same.

 **[][][]**

"It seems the last partnership has been created between Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie." Glynda spoke to the Headmaster. "I can't help but feel sorry for that boy. Those two don't seem to have anything in common…" Ozpin hummed in thought, but didn't respond. "Then there's Mr. Arc. I know what his transcripts say, but I can't help but feel that he isn't prepared for this level of combat." Ozpin continued to sip his mug.

"I think things will shape up interestingly." He finally spoke, staring out into the forest itself. Glynda pursed her lips at his aloofness of her comments but ultimately could only sigh. Instead, she tried to question from a different angle.

"What did you use as relics this year?" Ozpin let a smile grace his lips at the question as he turned from the forest and to her. Seeing she'd be getting nothing from the enigma she called boss, she looked back at the camera feeds on her Scroll.

 **[][][]**

"You think this is the Temple?" Yang wondered as Haku and her emerged from the brush to see a large area with several stone pedestals containing different chess pieces. Haku glanced at her and said nothing, but the expression she wore was enough answer for the blonde. "Alrighty, let's head down there then!" The two made their way down and began looking through the different pieces until Yang picked up a golden knight piece. "How about a little pony?" Haku shrugged, which was enough for the blonde boxer to grin in triumph.

As that happened, two other figures appeared in the center of the pedestals, causing Haku to draw her broken blade and Yang to don Ember Celica, turning to the new people. "What is it with people turning their weapons on me today?" Naruto asked curiously as his Time Displacement Seal disappeared from beneath Blake and himself. The two put their weapons away as it was revealed he was a fellow Initiate before Yang recognized him.

"Oh, its _you_!" She grinned before looking around. "But where's your not girlfriend?" Naruto shrugged as he looked around and grabbed a black queen piece and tossed it to Blake.

"Last time I sensed her she was about… five miles north of me and that was an hour ago. She had a partner already though, so she should be headed this way." Pulling his staff from his back and leaning against it, he grinned. "Of course, when I tell her that I beat her to the relics, it will be _so_ sweet!" Yang held a matching grin on her face.

"I knew I liked you for a reason!"

"Well, someone has to, statistically." A new, but familiar voice, rang out and garnered the attention of those gathered until they noted that Weiss and Kurotsuchi were making their way down one of the hills to the temple. "After all, only _so many_ people can find him as annoying as I do."

"Aw, missed you too, Princess." Naruto teased. Looking around, he saw there was another black queen piece and tilted his head in its direction, signalling her to grab it. Weiss walked past him with nose tilted up, but grabbed it nonetheless. "And who might you be, partner of my partner?" Before he finished, he was already ducking and dodged a blast of ice that Weiss had sent at him. The nonchalance which he gave the action surprised those around him but they attempted to ignore it.

"Um… Kurotsuchi Ryoutenbin." She answered hesitantly to the strange blonde. "I assume you know Weiss?"

"Naruto Uzumaki and yep! Weiss and I have shared a room for the last year and a half." He then spun to the left, avoiding a thrust from the blushing heiress' blade before disappearing and reappearing on the opposite side of the temple as she tried to slash at him. "Gotta be quicker, Princess!"

"I am going to kill you one of these days, Naruto!" Weiss yelled at him, embarrassment bleeding into anger at his constant teasing.

"Not that this isn't amusing, but…" Blake captured everyone's attention and pointed up, where everyone saw a Greater Nevermore flying with two Initiates hanging from its talons.

"YAAAAANNNNGGGGGG!"

"Ruby?!" Naruto and Yang shouted at the same time. And it was at that point that the red-hooded scythemistress began to fall...

 **And that's it!**

 **So, we've got everyone partnered up (JNPR is as canon and will show up next chapter, don't worry) and set-up for the big fight next chapter!**

 **I decided that I'll try and do some trailers but put it on the backseat of this story, that way it doesn't slow the progress. So, you can look forward to that.**

 **Lastly, I'd like your opinions on the characters I chose to include (though there will be** _ **many**_ **other Naruto characters that show up throughout the story) as well as their weapons and such. You won't really see their styles until next chapter and onward though, so…**

 **With that said, don't forget to favorite and follow! Reviews also really help me!**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	6. Chapter VI: Assemble!

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya! Orpheus again with the next chapter! Quicker than you thought, eh?**

 **Anywho, let's go right into reviews, shall we?**

 **PugTheMagician: Don't worry, Kurotsuchi will definitely be using both her water and lava and not focus on only the offensive lava. As for Blake… well, you'll see.**

 **Guest: Definitely canon, Yang** _ **is**_ **in for a surprise.**

 **Soulfire47: I'm glad that you're giving the story a chance despite disagreeing with my decision on breaking up the team.**

 **Chapter VI: Assemble!**

"Ruby?!" Naruto and Yang yelled in unison as the red-hooded scythemistress began to fall from the talons of the Greater Nevermore along with her partner. Said partner dove down and took hold of Ruby. Her Aura flared bright violet before a platform formed beneath the pair out of what appeared to be amethyst. Somehow, it actually was falling slower than they were, more like a crystalline elevator than anything. It would have all looked very cool if not for a certain blonde slamming into the two girls, creating a pile of tangled limbs on the platform.

"Ow…" Ruby groaned for the second time that day, standing up with the other two as the construct finally landed on the hill above the abandoned temple, the other groups all watching.

"Did they really just fly here on a Nevermore?" Blake asked curiously, showing the most emotion in her voice since Naruto met her. As Ruby, Guren and the blonde boy began making their way to the Temple, the sound of shouting caused everyone's attention to shift to the opposite hill where an Ursa Major could be seen until it collapsed into a heap following the sight of sparks dancing on its back. An orange-haired girl then jumped from its back and poked its face with a stick, frowning with a whine.

"Aw… it's broken!"

"Nora…" Another person appeared, though he seemed to be motion sick from whatever they had just done. "Please, never do that again." The ginger grinned and nodded before looking down at the temple and disappearing, reappearing by the white rook piece.

"I'm Queen of the Castle~ I'm Queen of the Castle~!" She sang with the piece atop her head, dancing around a bit.

"How can you be, when we have our queen right here?" Naruto asked the girl with his arm around Weiss' shoulder, gesturing to her own piece. Nora zoomed over to Weiss and stared at the piece in her hand and gasped, jumping back while removing a large warhammer from her back.

"It seems my kingdom is at risk from another queen!" She announced loudly while Weiss looked between Naruto and Nora, a look of horror on her face as he walked away, leaving her to deal with what he had created.

"Did they just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked, even more curiosity filling her voice this time.

"Jaune?!" Another voice rang out, turning heads again - though at this point they shouldn't have been surprised. Pyrrha Nikos could be seen running at high speeds with a _large_ Deathstalker right on her proverbial tail with its _very_ large and _very_ literal tail trying to sting her constantly.

"Did she just run here with a Deathstalker on her tail the whole way?" Blake's voice was genuinely surprised this time around. That, and impressed.

"Can everyone just stop for a moment before something crazy happens?!" Yang shouted out, her hair enflamed as she did so, just in time for Pyrrha to arrive at the temple, not even out of breath.

"Hm… well, let's just go." Naruto offered, gaining the attention of the group. "Our mission is to grab the relics and go to the cliff, not fight these things."

"We can take them though!" Ruby disagreed, passion in her eyes as she attempted to rush off in a trail of petals, only for Naruto to appear in front of her. She widened her eyes as she hadn't even seen him move _and_ her Semblance had been active.

"Listen to me, Ruby!" He demanded, the others watching intently. "You might think that you're strong, and you might be right. Maybe we can take them. But maybe we can't! Do you know what I was doing when I was your age?" She shook her head. "I was locating, raiding and eliminating everyone in White Fang bases around the kingdom of Vale and the area outside the borders. I did this as revenge against the organization that was responsible for _every_ member of my family and I became so good at it that I thought I was invincible. I was strong… undefeated… arrogant. And then I met _him_. Adam Taurus was in one of the bases I had found. He had killed my mother, my uncle, my grandmother, great-grandmother and several dozen of my cousins. I knew he had killed people _much_ stronger than me, but I _still_ fought him even though I could've gotten away. I didn't even scratch his clothing, mar his mask, _touch_ anything but his blade. He outclassed me so heavily that he only aimed for non-vital areas and left me bleeding, let me live because he _could_." He then pointed behind himself at the scorpion and raven Grimm. "We _might_ be able to win, but we don't have to fight them. We have the chance to escape right now and we should _take_ it."

Ruby looked at the floor at his story until she felt his hand on her shoulder and looked up at him. "I can tell you're strong, Ruby. I know you are. But if I let you rush headlong into that fight as you are now and you get hurt… I just won't let it happen because I _can't_ let it happen. You understand, right?" She paused but nodded, then looked at the Grimm once more, confusion in her eyes.

"Why… aren't they moving?" She asked and he grinned. Pointing at the ground, Ruby saw that there was another of Naruto's Seals surrounding just the two of them.

"Time Displacement. I saw them watching and I didn't feel like telling _everyone_ my past, just you. This makes time move slower around us, it's how I was able to get in front of you. I slowed time so much that you were simply going too slow to stay ahead of me." She widened her silver eyes and this led Naruto to grin triumphantly. He liked that look of awe in people's eyes when he explained seals. Blake may have been a breath of fresh air, but not his preference.

"Can't we just use this to kill them?" She asked, but Naruto shook his head.

"Diluting time by _this_ much takes a lot of concentration and I can't really move the seal when doing it. It's not usable for battle yet, but nice try." The Seal disappeared then and the pair turned to the larger group, who had missed the conversation since it happened _too_ fast for them to understand. "So, I say tactical retreat. Any objections?"

"Run and live to fight another day. That's a plan I can get behind." Jaune replied, voicing the opinions of the others. With that, the dozen Initiates began running back to the cliffside, Deathstalker and Nevermore giving chase. "They're following us!" Jaune pointed out _oh_ so helpfully.

"Weiss, if you would?" Naruto asked as he stopped and formed a Seal in midair, getting a nod from her and a Glyph overlaid it. The two glowed a _very_ bright white as Naruto and Weiss glowed with the light of preparing a Dust Spell. The two held hands, allowing their Auras to mix together and the ambient light around them to brighten and shift. Naruto's had been green and Weiss had held an aura of frosty blue, but now it had become a gradient of the two as they thrust forward their free hands at the Glyph-Seal.

As the blue-green mixture of their Aura and Dust hit the mixture of their Semblances, it gained size and multiplied, each of them taking the shape of an icy dragon coated in wind blades. There were six in total, three going for each of them. One clipped the Nevermore's wing and another managed a direct hit to the Deathstalker's mask, but did little in the way of stopping them, only slowing the pair. That's all they wanted as they rejoined the group and continued.

"So… I'm guessing that wasn't part of your plan?" Ren wondered as he looked back and saw that the other four had hit different parts of the Forest. One such dragon had apparently awakened a similarly sized Grimm that had the appearance of a spider, venom dripping from its mandibles. "I've never seen that before, though…"

"That… would be a fully mature Arachne." Blake noted drily as the group got to a bridge that led to more abandoned ruins, though these were hardly structures anymore. "Watch out for its spit, the venom is acidic _and_ highly poisonous. It's fast as a Deathstalker and also has webbing that's nearly impossible to cut through, though highly flammable."

"Naruto?" The blonde looked at Ruby who was holding her scythe and a bit antsy, but was still following his directions.

"Alright, alright. I don't think there's much choice. We're gonna have to fight…" Molding his Aura into a wide-range Time Displacement Seal to give the group a little more time to think, he sighed. "We have twelve of us and three of them, I guess its lucky that squads are formed in fours, huh?" Those gathered aside from Weiss, Blake and Ruby were amazed by his calm until they noted that the three Grimm were moving _very_ slow. "The Seal I made dilates time by a factor of 500, but I can't move while using something this complex, so we need a plan and we need it now."

"I'm with Naruto." Weiss immediately declared. "We've fought together for more than a year and most of our style demands the other. Is that alright, Kurotsuchi?" The gunslinger shrugged, pulling her oversized balisong out and shifting them into pistols.

"If that's the case, then I can't go without my baby sister!" Yang annoucned, pulling Ruby into a sidehug and nearly squashing the red-hooded sniper until she pushed herself away. Everyone looked at the remaining four, who shrugged and the squads were made.

"The Nevermore are quick and fliers, have projectile feathers sharp as steel and well-armored enough that we'll need quick, heavy hitters on it. Deathstalkers are slower, but more durable and dangerous at close quarters, that'll take at least two tanks and a heavy hitter. Then, as Blake already said, the Arachne are quick and dangerous, but, fortunately, they aren't as defended as the other two."

"I think we should take the Deathstalker." Pyrrha volunteered her group, noting that they had two fighter who utilized shields. "We meet the requirement you set and I know that together we can do something."

"We can take the Nevermore." Blake replied next. "I know that Naruto and I are agile enough to fight in the air and I'm sure that Weiss and Kurotsuchi are trained enough to do the same." Ruby looked at her group and nodded.

"We've got the spider then!" She commanded her team.

"If that's all taken care of, let's go." Naruto released his seal and the group ran across the bridge. Naruto, Blake, Weiss and Kurotsuchi began to make their way up the pillars to the level above the ground, positioning themselves on a bridge well over a kilometer above the pit that led to Dust knows where. Ruby, Yang, Haku and Guren took a position next to Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora well past the bridge, meanwhile.

As the Grimm approached closer, everyone that could, shifted their weapons to long-range form and began doing their best to barrage the three targets with whatever they could. Naruto and Weiss were using Dust Spells channeled through Seal-Glyphs, Kurotsuchi fired bullet after burning and soaking bullet, Blake emptied clip after clip from her submachine gun, Ruby took aim and fired through her sniper rifle, Yang punched shells of explosive dust, Haku formed senbon of ice, Guren released snowflake-like shuriken of crystal, Pyrrha fired her rifle, Nora peppered the Grimm with her grenade launcher and Ren used his automatic fire to do the same. Despite the combined effort, it did little to slow, let alone stop, the three beasts.

After some time, they finally collided with the potential students and that was when the _real_ fight began. As the Nevermore swooped in to Naruto's group, they scattered among the high pillars, letting loose their long-range fire into its flanks and back. With a mighty screech, the Greater Nevermore flapped up high, causing air displacement that nearly knocked over the four had Weiss not cast Gravity Glyphs at the quartet. Staying up higher, it was out of their reach but that didn't stop them for long as Naruto launched off his pillar. Weiss immediately formed Gravity Glyphs for him to land on as he jumped higher and higher, taking out Adamantium Whirlpool.

He held it in twin sickle form as chains formed between them and threw the first at the beast, watching as it embedded into the space where wing and body connected, then jumped on its back. He held onto the chain tightly as the Nevermore tried to throw him off, but stayed in place. Getting the idea, Blake called for Weiss. "I'm going up there too, I know what he's trying to do."

"Of course you do… glad someone does…" She complained but formed Gravity Seals nonetheless. This time, all three of the girls jumped to them, making their way to where Naruto was and then jumping to the Grimm's back, a Gravity Glyph keeping them in place. "Naruto Uzumaki, did you even have a plan when you came up here?" She demanded.

"Sure I did, Princess!" He said easily as Blake took out Gambol Shroud and threw one end, pulling on its ribbon until the ninjato stuck in the same spot that Adamantium Whirlpool was except on the opposite side. "See? I remembered seeing something on the end of Blake's ninjato when she was pointing it at me and was pretty sure she'd catch on." Weiss shook her head as the partners had some sort of reins on the Nevermore and it stopped trying to throw them off so much. "Plus, having a Calming Seal on that things mask doesn't hurt, huh?"

Kurotsuchi looked down to the others and realized what the blonde was doing. "We're riding the Nevermore and going to use it to help the others, aren't we?" She asked, getting a wide grin from Naruto, a sigh from Weiss and a blank look from Blake. "I've never ridden a giant bird, this should be… fun?"

"If only anything Naruto did was considered fun by normal people…" Weiss replied while taking out Myrtenaster. "I guess you need me to be navigator again?" She asked, gaining a strange look from Blake and Kurotsuchi. "This isn't the first time Naruto has dragged me along for Grimm riding, you know." With that, Weiss jumped up and onto the Nevermore's head, Gravity Seal keeping her there, Myrtenaster kept out in case of any other fliers. "Both of you pull up so we can start ascending, but make sure you both lean left so we can get in position."

"Aye, aye, cap'n!" Naruto replied as they did what they were told.

 **[][][]**

Back on the ground, the two teams had done the same thing as Naruto's squad. As the Grimm got over the bridge, the onslaught of projectiles continued until they got too close for it to. Once that happened, the proper teams split apart to handle their respective target.

The Deathstalker aimed its stinger at Pyrrha, but it only glanced off her buckler and her spear lunged for its eye. The scorpion protected its eyes with both claws, then swiped them outward, forcing the Champion of Mistral to jump back, Nora replacing her with her hammer in hand. It slammed against the tail as she jumped up, shifting Magnhild into its ranged form as she launched two grenades at it that erupted into pink smoke and forced it to scuttle backwards slightly. She landed back on the floor with a wide grin.

As for the Arachne, it had attempted to spit at the group, but every time it did, Haku activated his Semblance and forced the liquid to freeze midair, shattering on the ground with no effect. Simultaneously, several ice spikes had been formed and periodically slammed into its armor. Ruby was constantly launching herself at the eight-legged Grimm using the recoil of her scythe and her speed, cutting at its legs. Guren had her crystal blades formed while Yang had her gauntlets and the two were attacking the flanks close up, making sure to stay out of Ruby's way. Despite all of this, it acted like they were nothing more than a nuisance and knocked them back every so often, only for them to get right back up before it could move from its place.

It was about that time they heard the glass-shattering voice of the Nevermore coming in close as well as… was that laughing? The students and Grimm all looked up to see Naruto's team riding the Nevermore with said blonde cackling like a madman as they dove down. "Whaaa?" Ruby tried asking, but couldn't even register the ridiculousness of her friend.

"Move out the way!" Weiss commanded from its head, causing the Initiates to do so rather easily as they forced the Nevermore to slam into both of the other Grimm, toppling the trio off the platform and into the bottomless pit below the forest. As that happened, the quartet of riders had jumped off of it in time to land in the center of the other two groups. "Naruto, I swear, you're just as bad as Qrow sometimes!"

"It was fun though! Right, Kurotsuchi? Blake?" Kurotsuchi half-smiled while Blake just shrugged, causing Naruto to simply grin. "Well, I had fun. And we already know that you like denying your feelings, so its fine." He stated while turning around.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Nora shouted as she and Ruby approached Naruto at the same time, asking him a barrage of questions about how he rode the Nevermore like that. Yang also seemed curious, but seeing as how he already had two hyperactive girls on his case, decided to leave it alone for the time being.

"Well, that was a thing." The blonde bruiser said with a grin as they all stood together in a rough circle.

"Quite." Weiss commented as she watched Naruto explain the way he'd learned how to ride Grimm as mounts on a hunting trip with his uncle to the two girls and smiled lightly. "It's never dull with Naruto around."

"So you _do_ like him!" The blonde whispered as she was next to the snowy-haired heiress. Weiss glared at the girl and turned away, though whether the blush on her cheeks was from embarrassment or anger, you couldn't quite tell.

"If you believe anything he says, then you're as dense as him." She muttered.

"Maybe his claims that you deny your feelings have some merit after all." Yang teased lightly while watching her sister with that same smile Weiss did, glad that the girl was making friends. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Might wanna make your move though, he's cute and seems to be both strong and nice enough that another girl is bound to snatch him up from under you." Weiss glanced at the girl from the side and noted the seriousness in her tone and the look in her eyes - was that sadness?

"That sounds like personal experience to me…" Weiss replied, getting an easygoing grin from Yang.

"Whatever you say, Princess!" Yang's use of Naruto's nickname for her made the Schnee groan but she did put some thought to her words. Maybe she wasn't just a fight-happy flirt like Weiss had first thought.

"Princess!" Weiss looked up to see Naruto waving her over. "If you don't hurry up you'll be left here! Come on!" Sheathing Myrtenaster, she caught up with the group as they were leaving back up to the cliffside and shook her head. _Never a dull moment… this should be an interesting four years as long as Naruto is with me._

 **[][][]**

Back in the auditorium a few hours later, the Initiates who had both survived the test and finished it in time were gathered. Ozpin had been announcing the teams of four over the last half hour and had finally come to the group of twelve. "Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, please come up." As they were called, the quartet made their way up to the stage. "You will now be known as Team JNPR [Juniper] led by Jaune Arc." The blond widened his eyes at that, unsure how to react as he was congratulated. Pyrrha gave him a pat on the back that sent him to the ground before helping him back up.

Ozpin continued as they left. "Blake Belladonna, Kurotsuchi Ryoutenbin, Weiss Schnee and Naruto Uzumaki. You will now be known as Team UWBR [Umber] led by Naruto Uzumaki." Weiss smiled at that, Blake nodded and Kurotsuchi congratulated him while Naruto thanked Ozpin.

"Ruby Rose, Guren Shimizu, Yang Xiao Long and Haku Yuki. You will now be known as Team RSYY [Rosy] led by Ruby Rose." Ruby was just as surprised as Jaune at the declaration, though her team was just as supportive of her, having seen some of her skill, even if not her leadership.

"And with that, the freshman teams are assembled." Ozpin remarked. "I hope that you get along well and look forward to the school year. You will find your assigned dorm if you speak to Professor Goodwitch, Port, Oobleck or Peach in the back, they all have the lists that have the assignment. Good luck on your classes and we'll see you in class on Monday, have a wonderful weekend."

Ozpin then walked off the stage, sipping his coffee as he did so and left the masses to migrate on their own. "This will certainly be an interesting year." He spoke to himself with a smile while glancing back at the last three teams he had formed. Interesting was putting it lightly.

 **And that's it!**

 **Teams are now formed and next chapter we'll start up the first original arc of canon timeline. Should be fun!**

 **With that said, I hope you liked this chapter well enough. It took me a bit to figure out exactly what I wanted and I'm still not wholly satisfied, but if I get any ideas on how to improve I'll just edit this chapter later.**

 **Don't forget to favorite and follow! Remember that reviews help me update quicker!**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	7. Chapter VII: The First Step

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya! Orph here once again!**

 **Apologies for the long update time, but I had a few things to do. Foremost is the new opening and closing theme I added to this chapter! These are UWBR's equivalent to the Volume 1 Opening and Closing with a slightly more Shounen theme to them. They aren't required to understand the first volume worth of content, but I hope you guys at least don't dislike them. It was the first time I tried anything of the like though, so be gentle in your flames!**

 **Second, I was doing lots of planning, so look forward to that. Anywho, let's do some review answering!**

 **Lu Bane Na: Nope, it's Umber. Umber is a dark shade of purple that's nearly black, or dark brown.**

 **And now we can begin!**

 **Chapter VII: The First Step**

 _ **[Opening Theme: "Take It Out on Me" - Thousand Foot Krutch]**_

 _I don't know, I don't know, I don't anymore_

 _(The scene opens up with Winter Schnee looking in two mirrors. One has her training fifteen year old Naruto and the other has her consoling sixteen year old Naruto, just waking from night terrors)_

 _Thought I had, thought I had it under control_

 _(The camera zooms in on the second mirror on Naruto, then pans out with Naruto and Weiss sparring under Winter's watch)_

 _Hear my voice, here it goes, hear it louder than most, here it goes, here it..._

 _(Naruto rushes with a Time Displacement Seal, Weiss with a Speed Glyph, raising their weapons to clash)_

 _1! 2! 3! 4!_

 _(Each number is replied to with a clash of sickle on blade, until they hold the last clash and stare at each other with immense focus, neither giving in)_

 _It's not worth it!_

 _(As the two jump away, the camera spins around to show Mikoto watching them from atop a building, eyes glowing with a smile.)_

 _It's not working!_

 _(The camera fades, only her red eyes left visible.)_

 _You wanted it to be picture perfect!_

 _(The eyes disappear and the darkness gives way to the Uzumaki Clan looking down at Naruto. Each of them are simply heads impaled on pikes, staring into his being.)_

 _It's not over! You don't have to throw it away!_

 _(The scene changes to show Naruto, Weiss, Blake and Kurotsuchi across from Adam and three shadowy figures wearing Grimm masks)_

 _So, SCREAM if you want to! SHOUT if you need to! Just let it go!_

 _(The White Fang members disappear, replaced by Ozpin, Glynda and Winter. Ozpin is smiling slightly, Glynda giving a disapproving frown and Winter holding her hand out to Naruto and Weiss.)_

 _Take it out on me._

 _(Team UWBR turn their back on the adults, walking away.)_

 _FIGHT if you need to! SMASH if it helps you get control_

 _(The next scene opens up on Team UWBR in the middle of a fight against White Fang members that outnumber them vastly, but winning.)_

 _Take it out on me_

 _(Naruto and Weiss create a Seal-Glyph that releases a large, explosive blast. After the explosion, the letter UWBR can be seen in glowing red. In front of them are Naruto, Weiss, Blake and Kurotsuchi. Behind the letters are teams RSSY and JNPR, as well as several silhouettes.)_

 **[Vermillion Dormitory Hall, Room 103]**

"So, great leader, what to do now?" Weiss snarked to Naruto while sitting on one of the four beds. All the luggage had been dropped off before Professor Oobleck had led… rushed them into the dorm. That man was _crazy_ fast! Shortly after arriving, Naruto had unsealed all of Weiss' own luggage in the pile. Then the group had gone to the task of decorating the room to their individual tastes.

They had separated the beds so that Naruto and Weiss - who were already used to sharing a living space - had their beds against one wall, Blake had hers on the opposite wall and Kurotsuchi's was against the wall opposite the door. Of course, the larger reason for setting the beds against the wall was that Naruto created a seal on the floor that caused the space to distort within their room and somehow tripled the room's size without affecting the exterior of the room. This allowed everyone to have more room than necessary to set all of their things as they wished.

"Let's see… we've got the room completely set up and its only Saturday." The blonde looked from Weiss, to Blake - who was reading - and to Kurotsuchi - who had her Scroll out, playing some game or another on it. "That said, we've got a lot to do before Monday! And I won't allow any sort of procrastination."

"What could we possibly have to do before school even starts?" Blake pondered without pausing in her book. It was at that point that seals opened up above each of the four bed, dropping paperwork onto each of them. "Um… what's this?"

"Class choices!" Naruto replied with a smile. "Ozpin explained to the leaders that we're in charge of being the bridge between the Professors and the teams. With that in mind, I have to get all of you to go through the catalogues and choose your classes. It's a minimum of twenty credit hours each week, per semester, and not upper limit on how many classes you can take. What you can take is influenced by how you did on the entrance exam. Oh! Also, you can test out of any classes and skip them to move on to the next level of that class… if you think you're prepared to."

The three girls were flipping through the pages until Kurotsuchi was the first to ask a question. "Twenty hours, but how much of that can be electives?"

"Oh! That's easy! First years have about twenty-five hours of core classes that can be split between the two semesters. Grimm Studies Level 1, Intro to International Law, Basic Anatomy, Velian History I, Remnant History: Origins of the Kingdoms to First Interactions, Novice Aura Techniques, Beginner Dust Studies and Basic Training. We have to all take Basic Training together this semester, as its basically team exercises and squad strategy, so that's three credit-hours right off the bat!"

"Is he always this peppy?" Blake asked Weiss.

"Only when it comes to learning things and being in charge…" Weiss commented drily. "Just wait until he starts team training sessions outside of classes." She sighed before shaking her head. "I assume you already chose your classes?" The heiress was genuinely surprised when he shook his head.

"I haven't even looked at the electives yet. I wanted to wait to start until I gave it to all o you. No use in waiting around for everyone to finish." With that, Naruto sat on his own bed and began to flip through the rather sizeable booklet that explained the different classes and their prerequisites. "When you think you have what you want, there's a page in the back that you can put the course number in. The quicker we finish this, the better chances we have of getting the courses we want, since there's a limited number of seats in each one."

With that information given, the team set forth, picking and choosing the best classes - and several alternative electives just in case they didn't get their primary choices. Each of them also thought to attempt testing out of several of the core classes. No use wasting time on classes they didn't need, right?

 **[The Order, Atlesian Branch, "Quiksilver" Base]**

Mikoto sat in meditation, her Aura flared and glowing a soft powdered blue, humming with energy. It pulsated every now and again, always several seconds before the sound of footsteps reached her ears. A soft while graced her lips as she contracted it, returning her Aura to it's normal, stark white hue.

"Come in, Winter." She spoke, amused as she felt the signature on the other side of the door pause. The door then opened, revealing the eldest child of Jacques Schnee. "What can I do for you?" The Uchiha matriarch asked.

"Well, I wanted some… information." Winter began as she approached one of the Order's four Cardinals. "Naruto and Weiss gave me the names of their teammates, as well as the other rookie teams they befriended during initiation. I know who some of them are, such as Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren and Jaune Arc, then there's the Invincible Girl. However, I couldn't find anything on some of the others."

"I see. You want my intelligence. Very well, who are these children? Perhaps I know them by reputation or proxy."

"Right. Naruto's partner is Blake Belladonna. Weiss is partnered with a girl named Kurotsuchi Ryoutenbin. Team RSYY is composed of Ruby Rose, Guren Shimizu, Yang Xiao Long and Haku Yuuki. Finally, Team JNPR has Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren."

Mikoto nodded, taking a pensive expression. "There are some… interesting names in there. Luckily, none of them would be much of a danger to my godson's goal. Blake will be… interesting to convince given her relations, but I think she could temper his attitudes well. I'll have Shion prepare a full report for you. She has much free time and loves reading anyways."

"Thank you, Northern Cardinal." Winter replied formally with a bow of her head. "In other news, have we heard of any movement from the Captains?"

"No… not yet. Adam and Orochimaru are still missing, Hanzou hasn't left that ancient tower of his and our contacts say Kisame has yet to be replaced after the Swordsmen put him down. Shame about losing Zabuza and Mangetsu, but that shark couldn't be left alive."

Winter nodded, hands behind her back. "I understand. I'll let them know when I next speak to them. Was there anything you wanted me to tell them?"

Mikoto thought a moment before nodding. "Let them know that their handler will make contact in four days." Winter nodded one more before leaving. "Oh, and Winter? Congratulations on your promotion to Captain. Give Ironwood my best regards."

 **[Beacon Academy, Vermilion Hall, Room 103]**

Oddly enough, it was Naruto who was the last to finish up his class choices. Everything looked so useful in his fight, it was just _too_ hard to choose! Ultimately he decided that it might be more astute to choose a class in aura techniques over one of the minor languages native to the areas around Vale, but used little elsewhere. When he was finally done, it was dropped into one of his Storage Seals for future use before standing up with a grin, bringing his hands together. "Alrighty! Now that that's done, we can get into something important!"

"More important than classes?" Kurotsuchi couldn't help but question, getting a very serious nod from the blonde. "Okay, I'm listening."

From seemingly out of nowhere, an easel with a thick stack of posters appeared behind Naruto. Given his Semblance… the girls could guess how he pulled off the trick. The cover page had a bold title in thick, black ink on stark white paper **Rules of UWBR Dorm**. "Dorm… rules?" Blake noted with an expression halfway between curiosity and amusement.

"I've been rooming with Weiss for a long time." Naruto stated very seriously, no hint of his usual flirtatious tone that he often used when talking of the heiress. "As such, I've learned that if rules are not set up early on then… disagreements tend to spark up. Apparently its a common roommate problem, if Winter can be trusted when speaking of her time at Atlas Academy." With that, he pulled the first card off.

The three girls saw the a diagram of the room divided in half, then one side divided in half again. The one-half had the letters U and W, while the top quarter had R and the bottom had B, showing the sections of the room. "First rule! Don't mess with sections of the room that don't belong to you unless given permission. Part of the Space Distortion Seal is a Privacy Seal I crafted that's attuned to each of your Aura. Unless you give permission to someone else by infusing some of your Aura into them, it will repel them from touching any object on your side. Repeated offenses will… well…" Naruto glanced at Weiss, who shivered.

"Whitley certainly learned not to try and touch our stuff very quickly." She pointed out. The fact that neither said _exactly_ what the punishment was was a bit unnerving. "I don't think any of us have any objections to that rule though. It could have been left unspoken, you know."

"No, I think that establishing these simple rules is a good idea." Blake noted. "It might be things we otherwise wouldn't do, but understanding each other's limits and boundaries is essential to any partnership."

Everyone looked at Kurotsuchi who motioned the blonde to continue. This caused him to grin triumphantly. "Alrighty!" Removing that card, it showed the next one. "Second: I'm not imposing a curfew, but wake-up calls are at 6:30 AM to begin morning training. Personally, I'm up at 5 AM every morning, but that's the latest I'll allow you to sleep. I take my role as leader very seriously and we'll be doing training every day before and after classes." The poster read **Be prepared for scheduled training. No excuses!**

When no one made any objections - how could anyone without the risk of sounding like a spoled brat? - Naruto continued by moving to the third rule. **UWBRU+W+B+R** was the text. It was simple enough, but the blonde explained anyways. "The last of my rules is cooperation! Even though we don't have teamwork experience yet - barring only Weiss and I - I'm going to ingrain it into our training! Once we become one unit, together we will be much stronger than the combined strength we have as individuals." With a grin, Naruto punched his right fist into his left palm. "We're going to show Ruby and Jaune just who the strongest rookie team is!"

Unfortunately for the energetic blonde, the girls he was given charge of were composed of one kuudere bookworm, one calm heiress and one half-smiling and still nervous rogue. All in all, he was hoping for a reaction that he would've gained from Ruby and Yang, but instead only received an awkward silence. This certainly deflated the Uzumaki, but he would not be down for long! With a flash, his easel disappeared. "That said, I'll leave you two to do what you want for the day." Naruto commented as he glanced at the heiress, who nodded and stood. Weiss dusted her dress off and followed Naruto as he walked to the door, gaining the attention of Blake and Kurotsuchi.

"Uh, where are you two going?" Kurotsuchi wondered aloud.

"Oh, training." Naruto replied without a thought. "We should be back by dinner though. If you really need us, we'll be in the Emerald Forest." The other members looked at each other, then at the pair and stood, following after them into the hall.

"Naruto, as your partner, I feel I should warn you that we aren't supposed to go back in there. It's in the rulebook and everything." Blake pointed out to the blonde, standing at his side, slightly behind him. "I know you're the leader, but…"

"I know what I'm doing. But if you're really that worried, why don't you two join us? It would be good to get an idea of how our team reacts to Grimm. Weiss and I have gone on more than a few Grimm hunts with our teacher in Atlas, and I did the same with my uncle since I was thirteen. We don't have classes tomorrow, so we can go for a few hours, rest up tomorrow and then go to class on Monday." Blake and Kurotsuchi looked at each other again. Kurotsuchi shrugged, causing Blake to sigh. The quartet continued in silence through the hallway. "Great!" Of course, Naruto was never one to leave things silent unless he needed to be stealthy. "When we get closer, I'll explain why we're going. For now… wonder if they can keep up with us?"

His gaze was directed left, towards Weiss. Her blue eyes met his own and they shared a small grin as Glyph and Seal lit up, leaving Blake and Kurotsuchi to watch their afterimages. "Hm… maybe Beacon will be fun after all." Kurotsuchi muttered to herself as she jumped up and flew at high speeds after the pair. Blake was left alone, her eye twitching slightly as she realized there were _three_ speedsters on her team. Maybe she should've gone for Yang after all.

With that thought, she made her way to a small building and started to run and jump along Beacon's roofs. _Still… they're so much better than Adam so far._ Thinking of Adam caused Blake to wince, knowing that if Naruto ever found out who she was to that man, it couldn't be good. She was strong, but with how inseparable Naruto and Weiss were… Not to mention their teamwork. Needless to say, she was going to keep that little tidbit to herself as much as possible.

 **[Headmaster's Office]**

"Ozpin, we have a problem." The Headmaster looked up from his desk, where he was messing with the gears of a stopwatch, to see Glynda. She wore her usual stern face, though with tighter lips than usual. Putting down his small project, he gave the Deputy Headmistress his undivided attention even as she placed her Scroll on his desk. The area around it glowed momentarily as holograms appeared in the center of his office.

"Ah, it seems as if UWBR tripped the alarm. Well, that's fine." He immediately picked the timepiece up again, messing with its innards. Even as he did, he could _feel_ the glare that Glynda was sending at him and looked up so that their eyes met. "I see no problem with what they are doing, Glynda."

"There is _specifically_ a rule in place that they are breaking. One that _you_ created. Yet you are allowing a group of First Years to go into forbidden territory?" Ozpin shrugged and made a miniscule calibration to one gear in particular. "Ozpin!"

The man sighed and placed the watch down again, looking at her. "Naruto and Weiss have been trained by a Captain of the Atlesian Military, one of my Cardinals and our Fall Guardian. They are not without knowledge and understanding of just what is in the Forest and its dangers. Ms. Belladonna has her own experiences with things of a level similar to what could be expected in this trek. Ms. Ryoutenbin survived the destruction of Tsuchi and has taken out a number of minor tribes on her own. They are possibly the most experienced group of First Years we've had in several generations and it isn't even Day One of classes. Let them go and you can give them detention later." Shutting the watch, Ozpin smiled slightly. "In the meantime, I do believe now may be a good time to see just why those two decided to break the rules set forth by Sage's Order."

Glynda stayed silent, but watched the holograms just as intently. She would never admit it to the man, but she was just as curious about their intent as Ozpin.

 _ **[Closing Theme: "On My Own" - Ashes Remain]**_

 _There's got to be another way out_

 _(The scene begins with a view of the sky before descending down to the Uzumaki mansion in spring, Naruto looking at his parent's graves.)_

 _I've been stuck in a cage with my doubt_

 _(As he looks at Kushina's grave, a flash of Adam looming over him with a smirk causes him to step back)_

 _I've tried forever getting out on my own_

 _(He shakes his head, hands moving to the staff on his back)_

 _But every time I try to do this my way, I get caught in the lies of the enemy_

 _(Just as he's about to pull Adamantium Whirlpool from its holster, a hand moves over his, stopping him)_

 _I lay my troubles down, I'm ready for you now_

 _(Naruto lets go of his staff and looks at the person who stopped him, smiling)_

 _Bring me out!_

 _(The camera pans to show Weiss, smiling at Naruto)_

 _Come and find me in the dark now_

 _(Weiss takes Naruto's hand in hers and stands at his side, both looking down at the graves)_

 _Every day by myself I'm breaking down_

 _(The pair turn around and begin walking away from the graves, passing several dozen more, all fresh)_

 _I don't wanna fight alone anymore!_

 _(As they walk, the scene changes to that of land outside the Kingdoms, several people following them)_

 _Bring me out! From the prison of my own pride_

 _(The two look to either side, seeing Blake appear beside Naruto, and Kurotsuchi beside Weiss)_

 _My God, I need a hope I can't deny_

 _(The group finally stops, UWBR standing in line, with Adam and three others beside him glaring at the quartet.)_

 _In the end, I'm realizing, I was never meant to fight…_

 _(Team UWBR pulls out their weapons, leveling them on the Fang members as they do the same)_

 _On my own!_

 _(Just before weapons clash, the screen fades to black)_

 **And that's it!**

 **So, be honest. I'd like to know thoughts on the openings and closings. I worked very hard on figuring out everything for them and when I get around to doing Volume 2 ones it'll be important to have feedback now.**

 **Anywho! Next order of business is that… wait, there is nothing else. Know what that means?**

 **Remember to fave and follow! Reviews bring me inspiration!**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	8. Chapter VIII: Return to the Forest

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya all! Orpheus here again!**

 **So, seems my attempt at opening/closing was a bit mixed in terms of reviews, so I'll keep them mostly to myself or perhaps write those separately in a series of songfics. Aside from that, not much else to say, eh?**

 **Oh, except for: Merry Christmas! I did my best to get this chapter finished in time for today and I have another present for my readers that** _ **should**_ **be done on New Year's, but you'll have to wait for that. And no, it's not another update to this story. On to reviews now:**

 **ShinigamiUchiha: Alright, so I can see why you'd think that, but its not actually true. A leader isn't always the strongest person in existence. That's all I'm saying on the matter and it's up to you to read further to find out exactly what that means.**

 **With that, let's begin!**

 **Chapter VIII: Return to the Forest**

 **[Emerald Forest Cliff]**

Naruto and Weiss arrived to the familiar cliffside overlooking the Emerald Forest nearly instantly. It wasn't _quite_ teleportation, but a combination of Naruto's Time Displacement and Weiss' Speed effects in conjunction allowed the two to be anywhere they knew the location of in _very_ little time. Back in Atlas they could traverse the distance between the Schnee Manor and the outskirts of the Kingdom in little more than ninety-hundredths of a second. It wasn't anywhere near ready for battle, but in terms of traveling the two preferred it to Bullhead immensely. There was the _slight_ problem with intercontinental travel, but that was something they were working on. Well, one of many projects they were working on, anyways.

"So, just to be clear, we're taking them because it will make finding _it_ easier and not because you think they'd be a good addition to our mission?" Weiss asked curiously. Naruto smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, it's a good excuse to see just how skilled they are in an expedition situation without revealing too much. I'd rather wait to induct them until after we're certain of their ability and their loyalties. Plus, as leader, I have to make sure my team is the strongest they can possibly be. Doing this just makes it that much easier to tell." Weiss nodded. She was a bit peeved she hadn't been chosen as the leader, but as long as it wasn't the other two then she was content. She knew for a fact just how dedicated, loyal and strong Naruto was and it was enough to sate her.

It was then that Kurotsuchi appeared. She came from the sky and went for a landing, barely retaining her balance as she hit the floor. "Really need to work better on that…" she muttered before pulling out her pistols with a grin. "So, I'm betting we're here to hunt some rare Grimm, right?" Naruto shook his head, causing the girl to deflate, but she shook it off. "If that's the case, definitely dungeoneering to locate some artifact in the Forest?" The Schnee and Uzumaki looked at each other in surprise before nodding. "Got it in two! It's not quite hunting, but spelunking is cool too."

"How'd you guess?" Weiss wondered, surprised at how perceptive the girl was. By her accent, Weiss could tell that she was from outside the Kingdoms, likely somewhere on Anima. The heiress had thought her to be some sort of riff-raff that was effective enough with her guns to survive outside Mistral's walls. _I really need to stop doing that. First Yang and now my own partner show me how wrong my first instincts are._

"I mean, you're breaking the rules on the _very first day_. I know that you two are both pretty high up the social ladder, if the rumors are anything to go by. You'd only risk your reputation for something _really_ important or valuable. My first thought was a rare Grimm, because taking one of those out could give you some sort of trophy. I know that ancient or elder Grimm bone is really good for reinforcing weapons. You can also grind it down and mix it in with Dust for some interesting effects. Getting something like that might be good for getting the teachers to respect you, or even skipping past some classes.

"If not hunting, then it had to be an ancient relic. Either something from before the Great War or maybe even all the way back in the Dark Age. But that wouldn't really be enough on its own. I'd wager it's something old, valuable and probably useful in a fight, right?" Naruto simply smiled, which Kurotsuchi took as a sign to continue. At some point during her guesswork, Blake had shown up. "Let's see… both of you use your Semblance and Dust more than your weapon. It's not just some sort of weapon, because that doesn't fit your style. It has to be something more. Maybe something to enhance your Semblances? No… I know that your families are old, but they couldn't be _that_ old, could they? Something that would affect Dust then. Something to increase some aspect of it…"

Blake gasped at that point, recalling something the Fang had sent search parties for shortly after Adam had become Captain of Vale. All three looked at the pale girl as her eyes met her leaders. "You can't have found one of the Court Masks, could you?" The blonde's grin was practically splitting his face in two at her assertion.

"Looks like we got not one, but two other intelligent members on our team, Weiss." He declared. "Not just intelligent, but downright cunning at that! You're both right." He turned from them and looked down at the Forest. "Long ago, there was only Darkness, the Void. From the Void came all things. Humans and Faunus were created from the same mold, but they grew too strong, too quickly. Their Aura gave them an advantage over the beasts of our planet. Civilizations rose and resources depleted with the turn of each decade, each century. The world was nearing destabilization that our ancestors could not comprehend.

"It was then that Darkness made a decision for the betterment of the planet. Its will begat the Lord Grimm. Darkness given form and a bone-white mask and crown to denote its title. The energy of the Void, Nether, was that of absence. Due to its very nature, Lord Grimm's energy was toxic to those with Aura. There were human and Faunus who became… corrupted from this energy. They played traitor to both species in exchange for power they couldn't possibly fathom until they lost their humanity, their souls. There was but one strong enough to take on this Lord Grimm, a Sage whose Aura granted him powers of a God. He encapsulated Aether, the energy of life, of existence. The Sage knew he could not fight Lord Grimm though, for it would cause the embodiments of the will of Aether and Nether to cancel each other out, to destroy the energies themselves. If he were to fight himself and win, the people of the planet would lose.

"It was at that time he chose his own champions of the light. These were the progenitors to the Ancient Houses. They held immense power and were capable of taking on those humans and Faunus corrupted by Lord Grimm. Champion fought champion, paladin fought paladin, hero fought hero and in the end, the Sage's forces won, even taking Lord Grimm down. It was at a terrible cost though. Whereas the planet was once a unified continent, it was no longer so. A supermajority of the population was dead, many lines had ended during the war and the land split, rifted and some land masses even were lost to the battles of Aether and Nether. Thus, Remnant was formed. The Masks of the Court are all that is left of that time, the objects that gave champions from both sides their power. It only takes Aura to activate it. Of course, relics from both sides have nasty side-effects from overuse and cause all sorts of havoc if used improperly."

He then turned back to the other three with an easygoing smile. "At least, that's how the legends go. I don't know if any of it is true, but I do know that the Masks exist. There was a fragment of one in the Uzumaki Manor and the second piece is supposedly in one of the temples here. Someone else has the third piece, but I'll come to that bridge when I have to cross it." With that said, Naruto grabbed Adamantium Whirlpool from his back and set it into twin sickle mode, twirling the right one a bit in his hand. "So, you still up for it?"

Kurotsuchi and Blake shared a glance before nodding. "I guess we know you won't be a boring leader, at least." Kurotsuchi commented wryly.

"Where is this Fragment located?" Blake wondered. Team UWBR was then subject to a large Seal set under their feet, a series of differently sized Glyphs arranged vertically above that and a small, nearly translucent, pillar of light cutting through the epicenter of all of them. It traveled up above the quartet until it hit another seal in the air, tilted at a forty-five degree angle. "Why am I not surprised?" Blake wondered to herself with a groan. The light led right to where the final fight of their Initiation had been, down into the ravine where they knocked the Nevermore, Deathstalker and Arachne. She didn't imagine that they were too happy with them and would likely hold a grudge. _Can Grimm even hold grudges?_ She wondered to herself.

"Well, no time like the present." Kurotsuchi remarked as she began levitating. Naruto and Weiss were already forming their Semblances as well. Just before they could take off, Blake's eye began twitching. She pulled Kurotsuchi back to the ground and let loose a few bullets into the Seal-Glyph that the pair had formed, gaining the attention of her teammates.

"I am _not_ going to run after you three again. We are going to go together, as a team. It's not a race. Is that _acceptable_?" The tone in Blake's voice left no room for arguments despite her smile. Weiss responded by creating several Gravity Glyphs that led down to the ravine from the cliff in a stair-step formation. "Thank you. I knew you'd understand."

Blake led the way down as the other three hung back for but a moment. "She's quiet, but scary." Kurotsuchi noted to the others while Naruto nodded sagely.

"Always watch out for the quiet ones."

The descent went without further issue for the quartet. They finally reached the ruins where they had fought just the day before, Naruto peering down into the ravine. "It's a long way to the bottom, but luckily I have just the thing for this." He stated as a Storage Seal opened up on the side of the ravine's wall.

"Is there ever a time you don't have something 'for the occasion'?" Weiss wondered with only a little snark in her tone.

"I'm sure when you inevitably confess your feelings to me, I'll be taken aback." He replied immediately while stepping to the side in time to dodge a bolt of ice. "Joking aside, quicker we go in, quicker we come out." As he said that, rope began to be spat out of the Seal in a seemingly neverending stream. "However, that is no excuse to go in without a plan. We stay together no matter what, alright?" With three nods, he continued. "We're all strong, yesterday proved that. I know that we're all intelligent as well because of what happened earlier. Don't think for a moment that means I'll be okay with you taking unnecessary risks to outdo each other. I am _not_ losing anyone else. We may have just met, but you're on my team, and I'm your leader. That means its my responsibility to make sure we all come back from this as unharmed as possible. That means, until we graduate, I'm the head of family, our family, the House of Umber." The seriousness with which he said that was only ruined a little bit with his next line. "Of course, that doesn't mean we can't have fun, so kill whatever gets in the way!" With that, he backflipped off the ledge and took ahold of the rope below.

"Naruto is really odd." Blake stated matter-of-factly, though there wasn't an iota of malice or dislike in her statement. In fact, she was finding him much more bearable than Adam ever was.

"No arguments with you on that one." Weiss agreed. "He means well though, and will do everything in his power to protect those he claims as family. Anyways, let's not give him too much of a lead." She was the next one to jump. Using a Gravity Glyph platform, her descent began at a rate equal to Naruto - who was sliding down the rope at speeds that should have set fire to his clothes, but through creative use of seals didn't.

"I hope you don't regret coming here." Kurotsuchi mentioned with a grin, gaining Blake's attention as the girl levitated. "I think that we're gonna have a lot of fun thanks to those two. I know you like your books, but I'm pretty sure our leader is going to find ways to make even that 'romance' novel of yours boring in comparison."

Blake's eyes widened at the statement and had the decency to blush when Kurotsuchi referenced her Ninjas of Love series. The girl began giggling at the reaction before she dove into the ravine after her other teammates. Looking around, Blake narrowed her eyes. _It's probably nothing. No one else is out here, it's forbidden. Let's just go._ She then followed her team down, taking the rope like Naruto had.

"Think you might be losing your touch, old friend?" A tall and rather thin man with round glasses and spikes of green hair asked. He wore a white shirt with a yellow tie and a pair of black khaki pants. The person he spoke too was a man of more girth, with wide shoulders and grey hair, with a grey, handlebar moustache. He wore a maroon military uniform with gold trimming and maroon pants.

"Nonsense! I am still more than capable of stealth against children without proper training, I'll have you know." The second man spoke, never anything even approaching malice entering his voice.

"Still, it is surprising that the Headmaster wishes us to tail them rather than apprehend this rookie team for detention. I thought Glynda might have had more influence, but it seems that he is still up to his games."

"Yes, but it is quite thrilling, is it not? A team of our students on a quest for the Masks! Why, I recall my years scouring the land outside the Kingdoms for just one shard and never finding any. The fights and friends I had along the way helped shape me into the Huntsman I am today."

"Still, it's interesting to know that those two can find matching shards of Masks." The taller man took a sip of coffee while he thought on it. "I understand that Mr. Uzumaki and Ms. Schnee are Initiates but having something like that seems beyond what they should be able to reasonably do."

"Remember, old friend, Mikoto has had them. She is even better than Ozpin at understanding how Semblances react when used together thanks to her abilities. I'm sure that its just a matter of their natural synergy and tutoring under the Northern Cardinal." Oobleck thought on this and nodded. "Still, it means they had to be able to test it out somehow." The two glanced at each other and filed the knowledge away for later as they pulled their weapons and began to make their way down the ravine once they were sure the children already hit the bottom. They had an assignment to do after all.

Down below, team UWBR gathered as Naruto and Weiss formed their tracking Seal-Glyph to see which direction the Mask Shard was. "So, which Court is this Mask from and what's it look like?" Blake asked as they had set it up. They were pointed toward the southwest and began walking before she got her answer from Weiss.

"It's called Harpe, from the Sage's Court. It was a blade of silver with a sickle blade on the side without an edge with the ability to cut through any source of Nether with ease. The Shard that's down here is the hilt. It should be made of ironwood with a ruby set in the pommel, the hilt itself shaped like a snake with the ruby in the place its eye should be. According to legend, Harpe was the sword used to strike down three witches that were able to use Earth Magic so well they could turn Heroes to stone with just their gaze."

"That sounds really powerful." Kurotsuchi commented with a thoughtful hum. "What's it's side effect? You mentioned that all the Masks have a side-effect if you use them too much, right?"

"Well, it's not so much overuse as using them without understanding them." Blake explained to the girl. "If you use them as only a weapon, a tool, then their power will corrupt. They aren't normal objects. Each one is sentient, according to legend. It takes a pact to truly master them. You have to see them as partners and allow synergy between your Aura and the Mask's Aura. If you don't, your Auras will fight and eventually the Mask will win, controlling you like a puppet of destruction. You have to remember that each one was created as a means to kill the other Court. Corruption from them leads to not just a desire, but a need to cause bloodshed on massive levels." Kurotsuchi thought on this and nodded in understanding.

"The thing is, just a shard of a Mask can grant immense boosts in power." Naruto explained to the group. "They only grant a part of the power that a complete Mask can, but the flat boosts to all abilities they give are enough to create a rift that even veteran Huntsmen are hard pressed to compare to. I've only seen two people using a Shard before. One was my teacher and the other…" Blake widened her eyes and had to force herself to keep walking at his next words, so as to not cause any suspicion. "Killed my entire family." _When did Adam get a Shard? Was it after the train? Was it before we became partners? Those missions… he was trying to find the other pieces, wasn't he?_

"I don't get it, how much stronger could just one piece of these things make you?" Kurotsuchi asked.

Naruto and Weiss looked at each other and simply shivered, thinking about Mikoto. That was enough for Kurotsuchi to drop the subject, apparently. Blake's eyes narrowed and her bow twitched ever so slightly shortly after that. She grabbed Gambol Shroud from her waist and took a stance. "We've got company."

Naruto removed Adamantium Whirlpool, Weiss took out Myrtenaster and Kurotsuchi took out her pistols - Pele and Aquarius - as a flock of bat-like Grimm showed up. Each of them had whip-like tails, overly long and sharp fangs, pig-like snouts, fur-covered wings and large horns protruding from their masks. "A flock of Nosferatu, just what we needed." Weiss complained as several Gravity Glyphs appeared in the air with little more than a thought.

"At least we don't have a Count among them." Blake mentioned as she unleashed spray-fire into the colony. Kurotsuchi was busy unloading shells of lava and water dust into the group while Naruto and Weiss jumped between the Gravity Glyphs and tore into them with their weapons and some dust spells. Truth be told, they were little more than a nuisance to Team UWBR and were dispatched in under a minute.

Of course, they weren't worried about the colony. But what might be attracted thanks to the ample noise a battle like that would create. What was attracted was a familiar, but not welcome, sight indeed. "They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I think I'd like to kill whoever thought that up." Kurotsuchi mentioned when, not even a few minutes after the Nosferatu, they were greeted by a still injured Deathstalker and an angry Arachne.

"Sate yourself by helping us kill these things." Naruto replied rather easily. His calm in the face of two alpha-class Grimm was definitely to be admired. He just hoped it was well-earned and not a bluff.

 **And that's it!**

 **So, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this. I'm attempting to put some lore and history into Remnant with my own twist. I'll get further into all the stuff that was mentioned in this chapter, so you'll need to wait for that. Aside from that, I'll just let you guys tell me if I did something interesting, something horrid or anywhere in between, alright?**

 **Don't forget to favorite and follow! Reviews really help me!**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	9. Chapter IX

**Broken Chains**

 **Chapter IX**

"Any ideas, fearless leader?" Blake wondered as UWBR had their weapons out and fell into a staring contest with the two Grimm. Said blonde glanced between the Deathstalker and the Arachne before breaking out into a grin. "I feel like I'm not going to like that look…" She muttered.

"Weiss, Kurotsuchi, take the Deathstalker. Blake and I will handle the Arachne and help you when we finish." Naruto ordered as his golden chains materialized between both sickles in a flash of light. A Time Displacement Seal appeared beneath Naruto's feet and he was suddenly above the Arachne, slashing several arcs of Wind Dust at the spider's back to gain its attention. Weiss and Kurotsuchi took the opportunity to distract their own foe away from their leader. Weiss used a Speed Glyph to rush forward and get a glancing blow of Myrtenaster on the thing's leg with Fire Dust coating her blade while Kurotsuchi flew above the scorpion and began taking potshots at it. Blake was already upon the Arachne by the time they had done that, taking its attention off of solely Naruto with a quick barrage of automatic fire from Gambol Shroud.

The blonde stood atop the Arachne's abdomen - much to its displeasure - with his chains wrapped around the cephalothorax, keeping its second set of legs from any movement at all while Blake fired at its eyes, forcing the thing to try and step back. With some focus, Naruto formed several seals at once to help his ravenette partner. Small Restraining Seals around the tip of each of its legs kept it from further movement, a Calming Seal atop its head sedated it slightly and a Time Displacement Seal under Naruto allowed him to speed away to Blake's side, before inverting it to freeze the Arachne in place. "That thing is old, its armor is a bit too much for your bullets or my blades." Naruto pointed out to Blake, who nodded.

"I'm assuming you have a plan, since you don't seem the type to just idly complain." He grinned at that, which made Blake question her leader's sanity not for the first time that day. "Just tell me what to do." She accepted.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Kurotsuchi weren't having quite as easy a time. Even with one of its left legs missing, the Deathstalker was much stronger than its fellow arachnid Grimm. It was older, tougher and more experienced, even if slower. Kurotsuchi was flying above it, just barely out of its stinger's range. This was specifically so it would try and sting her and give Weiss a little bit of room to work. Lava bullets kept hitting its back armor while water bullets were aimed at the claws and tail in an attempt to slow them down.

Weiss was zipping around the scorpion-like Grimm with her Speed Glyphs and attacking at odd angles thanks to her Gravity Glyphs hanging in the air. Ice coated the area, locking its legs in place to the ground, but that didn't seem to be anything but a minor inconvenience for it. "This isn't going anywhere fast." The heiress commented drily after getting far enough back that the tail couldn't reach it. Kurotsuchi was levitating next to her and nodding with a grimace. "Okay, I've got an idea, but I've never tried it with Lava Dust, just Wind and Ice. It should work just as well though."

"Wait, so all I have to do is shoot Pele?" Weiss nodded. She shrugged and nodded in acceptance of the plan. "Just tell me where and when."

A little ways away from UWBR hid Professors Port and Oobleck, watching their battle with interest. "Two alpha class Grimm at once is mighty impressive!" Port stated proudly, looking forward to teaching this particular team.

"Quite. I do wonder what Mr. Uzumaki and Ms. Schnee are cooking up, however. It is obvious the two of them have convinced their respective partners to do something and with their Semblances, not even the sky is the limit." The two were interrupted as Weiss created several Glyphs at once that surrounded the Deathstalker, followed by Kurotsuchi flying above it. There were six in total, as well as a seventh that formed in front of the flying Huntress-to-be. With a grin, Kurotsuchi holstered Aquarius and gripped Pele tightly in one hand. Her other hand was over the revolver's hammer and she emptied the six shots directly into the Glyph.

When each one passed through, it multiplied by six and spread outward to slam into the six Glyphs that surrounded the immobile Deathstalker. As each one hit a Glyph, they became engorged and multiplied in speed until they collided with the large Grimm. Though Weiss seemed to be sweating from the concentration, she held her Glyphs up as six explosions of Lava Dust hit the arachnid each second. Kurotsuchi had refilled her revolver after the sixth shot and unloaded another sextet. Soon, the Deathstalker was enveloped in so much heat, ash and magma that it wasn't even visible. After eighteen shots, Kurotsuchi stopped and the Deathstalker was revealed to be not even a pile of Nether dust anymore.

After about the second shot, Naruto and Blake had begun their own final assault. It was much less flashy than their teammates, but the professors felt that it fit given Blake wasn't nearly as flashy as Kurotsuchi, given her records. Naruto had crafted a rather large Storage Seal in front of the pair. A second, smaller seal appeared in front of that. Interestingly, while the first was gold, the second glowed a bright silver akin to Wind Dust. Once set up, Blake fired an entire clip of Gambol Shroud into the epicenter of both Seals. It seemed to have no effect, until Naruto released the Time Distortion Seal around the Arachne. As soon as he did that, it exploded from the inside out, launching dust everywhere.

"I do believe that this will turn into both an interesting expedition and an interesting year, all things considered." Port commented to his green-haired friend, who nodded with a slight smile as he sipped some coffee.

Naruto grinned wide as he saw his plan had worked perfectly and absorbed his remaining seals. Blake still looked passive at the result, which did irk him a bit but not enough to ruin his mood. "You know, a small smile wouldn't hurt. We won." The ravenette looked like she was going to say something, but instead she shook her head and walked ahead, waiting a little ways away for the others to join her. The blonde sighed and watched as Weiss and Kurotsuchi finished off their Deathstalker without the need for his aid.

The four regrouped near where Blake had been standing. "So, no more surprises, right?" Kurotsuchi asked optimistically. Naruto and Weiss shared a glance and shrugged. It really didn't do much to help the girl's confidence in a peaceful journey. That was just fine with her though, if the grin on her lips was an indication.

 **[][][]**

As they traveled further into the underground, Naruto had created several Seals along the walls which glowed a bluish-white to light the way. "So, about this Harpe, do you have any idea what it does?" Kurotsuchi asked, being the only one amongst the group that didn't know much about the Masks. Naruto nodded but allowed Weiss to explain.

"As we said before, the sword can cut through any source of Nether with ease. That's when the sword the is complete, however. In terms of the individual Shards, they have weaker abilities that are still strong in their own right. The sickle is sharp enough to cut through Grimm bone. The blade can pierce a Grimm's mask and becomes sharper with every mask it destroys. The handle enhances one's Aura to the point that Grimm cannot use their ability to sense negative emotions to find you."

"We're trying to get the hilt, right? So, it… makes you invisible to Grimm?" Kurotsuchi wondered, getting a nod from the team's leader.

"Every Mask of the Court has several abilities. Each Shard has a unique ability, when together there is a 'Set Ability' that becomes active as well as several general abilities that each Mask and each Shard have no matter their Court or other abilities. These general abilities include things like increasing the Aura of the wielder, enhanced strength, speed and reflexes, enhanced senses, the ability to sense Masks of the opposing Court and things like that."

"Don't the Masks also have some sort of teleportation ability?" Blake asked, remembering something from her personal research. Weiss responded to this question, showcasing just how much synergy the two had.

"They're supposed to be able to teleport the holder to the location of their Court. Unfortunately, we don't exactly _know_ where, or what, the Courts are. The only way to find that out is to get a whole Mask and try it out. Still, it's supposed to be a pretty advanced power of the Tools, so it's probably going to be some ways off before we can even hope to do something like that."

"These things really are that big of a deal, huh?" Kurotsuchi wondered, now understanding how powerful these artifacts were. The other three nodded. "Geez… well, at least there will never be a dull moment on this team! Here I was worrying about getting a boring team because I was put with two rich kids and a bookworm!" Weiss and Blake glared at the girl, though Naruto found himself focusing on something a little more important.

"Hold off on attacking Kurotsuchi, girls." He commanded. "We've got to get past more than just Grimm, it seems." They looked where he was gesturing to see a _large_ golem made of stone and steel. Its head was a dome with red eyes aimed at them with large proportions that matched its twelve foot height.

"What is that?" Kurotsuchi swallowed, though pulled out her weapons.

"That would be one of the powers of the Shard." Blake noted. "The ability to create Guardians so that it doesn't fall into unworthy hands." All members of the team had their weapons pulled out at this point, but the golem didn't move towards them. "It looks like it's not going to make a move until we do."

 _"Turn away if you wish to live in peace and prosperity."_ The golem spoke in a raspy voice that sounded more like the grinding of gears than anything else. _"Those who move forward shall be doomed to either die at Our hand or be forced to forever fight the Court of the Dark Lord. Your destiny will ultimately end in the demise of all you hold dear. Turn away if you wish to live in peace and prosperity. Any closer and We will not hesitate to end those who are unworthy."_ When Naruto and Weiss stepped forward, it spoke. _"Are you worthy? The challenge has been made and We accept."_

"H-hey! I can't move!" Kurotsuchi shouted. Blake yelled something similar as she also realized her joints were locked up. Naruto and Weiss looked at each other and then back at them before the golem spoke.

 _"Only the challengers may press their claim. The others will be safe but unable to move until the claim has been settled. Once it is over, they may move again. If We win, they are free to make their own challenge. If the challengers win, then all may move forward to the Shrine. These are the rules we Guardians follow. If it is your goal to gain the means to combat the Court of Shadows, it would be wise to memorize them."_

"Don't worry, we'll make sure to end it as quickly as possible so that you two can start moving again." Naruto tried to appease the girls. "I didn't know _this_ would happen by stepping forward." Blake and Kurotsuchi glanced at each other without moving their head before nodding as slightly as they could.

"It can't be helped, I guess." Blake muttered.

"Let's see how good the Princess and you can really be then, huh? Don't you dare hold back! I like moving, thank you very much!" Kurotsuchi was a bit more… energetic in her speech. The blonde and his partner nodded. Naruto's grin was wide while Weiss had a smirk that showed her confidence in their ability.

"Don't worry about that, we'll definitely make sure to end it quickly."

 _"Are the claimants prepared for the Challenge?"_ Naruto and Weiss turned to the golem and nodded as one. _"Your challenge will be to defeat Us in combat. You may do so in any way you so choose. The Challenge will have concluded when We concede, when the claimants have passed to the next world or if Our physical form is destroyed enough that We are unable to continue. Are the rules clear?"_

"Yes, they are. We are ready whenever it pleases you." Naruto answered formally, causing the golem to bow its head slightly. Holding out its right hand, a large broadsword that was nine feet in length materialized in it, while a round shield six feet in diameter was now strapped to its other." Naruto had pulled Adamantium Whirlpool out in its chain and double sickle form while Weiss took a stance with Myrtenaster. They both had several Glyphs and Seals ready to counter anything they needed to.

 _"It shall begin when you make the first move."_ The golem informed them as it took its own defensive stance.

"Go Naruto and Weiss!" Kurotsuchi cheered while Blake sighed at the girl.

Glancing at each other, the pair of heirs nodded. In an instant, Time Displacement Seal and Speed Glyph were created and layered on top of each other, sending both forward fast enough to compare to Ruby, if not outright exceed her. Separating halfway to the golem, they took opposite sides to attack. Timed perfectly, Naruto and Weiss ended up attacking the armored Guardian at the same time.

It wasn't a Guardian for no reason though. With a single movement of its arms, it sent them off. Landing on their feet, they watched as the thing slammed its foot into the ground, causing _large_ crevices to open up and nearly swallow Naruto. The blonde jumped away and landed on a Gravity Seal Weiss summoned. He knew she would do it, so he had simply jumped without thinking. Taking off from the black platform, he landed near Weiss just in time to create an Explosion Seal in front of the downward swinging sword aimed for her.

She dashed out of the way with a Speed Glyph just as the giant hit the Seal. _Immediately_ , large amounts of Explosion Dust stored within it reacted and sent the sword flying out of the golem's hand. Opening a _large_ Time Displacement Seal beneath the golem at the same time that Weiss created several Gravity Glyphs to bind its limbs in place. Struggling under his bindings in both space and time, the golem attempted to break through them. Crafting several Wind and Fire Seals around the Guardian, Naruto waited. Weiss finished her own Glyphs in front of the five Seals and nodded from the other side of the golem.

Naruto cast spells from the Seals that launched them out of them. As they hit Weiss' Glyphs, each bolt multiplied into six and were controlled by the Schnee heiress' will. Fire and Wind mixed to create _large_ bolts that pierced into the steel and stone armor of their enemy. By the end of their barrage – Naruto providing the power and Weiss providing the precision – the golem had lost large chunks of its right arm, its left leg and even had holes in its torso. Releasing their bindings of space-time, Naruto and Weiss watched as it fell to the ground.

 _"It seems as if Our body will not be able to continue in its current state."_ The Guardian stated. Its tone didn't seem upset. It sounded almost… happy. _"The claimants have proven their worth and We will be more than happy to allow them the possession of Our Shard. As the Challenge is over, you are free to move once more."_ It spoke the last part to Blake and Kurotsuchi, who joined their teammates in front of the fallen Guardian. _"Will you stay long enough to hear Our warning?"_

Naruto and Weiss glanced at each other and nodded. _"We have laid here for a long time, awaiting a claimant to Challenge us. Over that time, we have felt other Shards gathering of both Courts. The War is rekindling and will not be very far from resurfacing. You must be ready to fight other Masked Ones. The thing that upsets Us the most is that there are Shards of both Courts owned by the same individual in some cases. You will not be able to trust even Masked Ones of the Sage's Court. You must find those you can trust explicitly and not allow others to stray you from the true goal."_

Feeling brave, Kurotsuchi asked what they were all thinking. "What is the true goal?"

The golem was silent a moment before answering. _"The true goal is to bring down the One Who Sits Upon the Throne of Darkness. The Lord Grimm is no longer alive, but another sits in the seat that was formerly his. You must find this person and take them down. It is of the utmost importance that the Throne remains empty. Only then will the Grimm stop spreading. Only then will killing the Tainted Ones truly have meaning. Gather the Shards and form the masks, it is of the utmost importance. If both sides are mixing the Courts, things are truly terrible and must be mended._

 _"We implore you to complete Harpe and continue to find more Masks. Your intentions are hazy, clouded in revenge, but We are confident that you shall lead the Court to its former glory."_ The golem spoke to Naruto, then turned its eye to Blake. _"A dark past will only lead you down the Path of Light, do not forget that."_ It turned to Kurotsuchi. _"Those who have lost everything know the true value of life and will protect it dearly."_ Lastly, it looked at Weiss. _"Precision and grace is Our true power. Wield it well."_ With that, the golem disappeared in a flash of light and became a cloud of… energy. The bluish-white Aura exuded _power_ so great that everyone felt insignificant before it. Suddenly, the cloud rushed forward into Myrtenaster, whose hilt glowed that bright bluish-white. Team UWBR looked at Myrtenaster as the glow died down and all that was left was a small symbol on its guard.

"That was… fun." Blake commented idly with a small smile at their success.

"Man, this is gonna be a fun four years." Kurotsuchi noted with a grin that was matched by Naruto's who nodded. His grin was for a different reason though. They were _one step closer_ to their goal. If they happened to save the world from the new Lord Grimm along the way, then that was cool too.


	10. Chapter X

**Broken Chains**

 **Heya everyone!**

 **Orpheus here with the next chapter of Broken Chains (finally)! Hope you like it!**

 **Chapter X**

"Did I miss anything, Oobleck?" Port wondered as he finished giving his report to Headmaster Ozpin. The other professor took a sip of his ever-present coffee mug before shaking his head. Ozpin regarded the two men and thought for a moment about whether they had _ever_ given a false report or been prone to flights of fancy. When no memories surfaced, he could only give a slight grin.

"I can see that our young charges from Atlas wait for no one. To think that one of our students bears a Shard… I have no doubt that this will be a truly interesting year." Glynda, who was the final member of the room, regarded the news with pursed lips. While she didn't enjoy the fact that the team had been in unauthorized territory… it seemed they _were_ capable. Not to mention the fact that one of the pieces of Harpe had been recovered. She might allow it to slip this one time, perhaps.

 **[Team UWBR's Room, Monday Morning]**

"Rise and shine, Team UWBR!" Naruto's cheerful voice cut through the morning quiet at precisely 6:30 AM, rousing a still sleeping Blake and Kurotsuchi while Weiss and him were already awake. He was dressed in his uniform while Weiss was in the bathroom, getting ready for her own day. Kurotsuchi groaned, opening half-lidded eyes to send her leader a half-hearted death glare. "It's your 6:30 wake-up call! Come on, the sun has already been up for nearly an hour, and you're still in bed."

"Why…" She looked at the window to see the sunrise still painting the sky purple and orange. "The sun isn't even awake yet..." Stifling a yawn, she did sit up though. "How long have you been awake?" She wondered.

Glancing at the wall-mounted clock, he shrugged. "It's been about two hours or so now. That fight yesterday was a bit intense, so I thought I deserved to sleep in a little." Kurotsuchi just looked at the boy like he was some sort of madman when he confessed that. "You up Blake?" He asked, looking over at her bed. His partner gave him a thumbs up from under her blanket, which caused him to grin. "Alrighty! I want us to be gathered in the coliseum by seven so we can do a little pre-class training. I'll let you girls get ready and meet you down there." Waving goodbye, the blonde ball of sunshine that was their leader left, which was about when Blake finally got up, sharing a glance with Kurotsuchi.

"He's going to be like that for the next four years, isn't he?" The flier amongst them asked, getting a look from Blake before she nodded.

"He may be a bit overbearing right now, but he's just trying to look out for you two." Weiss commented as she emerged from the bathroom, her hair in that trademark curl off the side of her head and dressed in her uniform. "He has this philosophy because of what happened to his family. If you're overprepared, you'll never b e overwhelmed. Thing is… he's got no understanding of the phrase 'properly prepared'. He'll never be content with his own strength, thanks to the knowledge that there is always someone stronger. Even when he eventually defeats Adam Taurus, he knows that there are others to contend with. Even if it's not the White Fang, it'll be someone else. With the knowledge he'll never be strong enough to protect everyone… he wants everyone to be as strong as possible." Glancing at the two other girls on her team, she shook her head with a smile. "He may be… _difficult_ to deal with, but he cares in his own way. I just hope you can keep up with what Naru uses for training."

"Where are you going?" Blake wondered as the snowy-haired heiress opened the door.

"I need to make sure that he doesn't get into any sort of trouble." Weiss responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. After she left, the remaining half of UWBR looked at each other.

"Those two might as well be attached at the hip, with how much they're together. I'm surprised that they aren't dating at this point." Kurotsuchi commented. "Why do you think she's like that though?" Blake looked at Kurotsuchi before recalling something about her being from outside the Kingdoms.

"You don't know much about Naruto, do you?" She wondered, getting a shrug from the girl. "He actually owns Uzumaki Smithing and Refining. His family has been close with the Schnees even longer than the Schnee Dust Company has existed. His family, however, was taken from him by the White Fang." Blake seemed uncomfortable with the statement, but continued anyways. She wasn't with them anymore. "There was what basically amounted to a war between the Fang and the Uzumaki family for about two years, led by Naruto's mother, Kushina. After the end of it, he was the only one left out of his entire family.

"I'm not sure how Weiss fits into things exactly." Blake admitted. "I imagine that she's pretty important though. Just the thought of losing my parents, let alone every blood relative I knew would give me trust issues, I think. The Fang used to be peaceful, but things have gotten out of hand at this point… if only the world wasn't like this, he might still have his family."

Blake seemed to be feeling more than a little guilty, though Kurotsuchi couldn't figure out why. "Well, I've got some idea of that." Kurotsuchi responded. "Regardless of how you, or I, would react in his situation, we aren't him. He seems to trust us well enough, at least from what I can tell. He showed us the Shard and even explained to me what they were. I don't know if he has any issues with trust, though I'm sure there _were_ lasting effects of what he had to go through. All we can do is try and watch after him though. He's our leader, sure, but if living in the Wastes has taught me anythihng, it's this: a team is only as strong as its leader, but its leader is only as strong as his team. If we don't look out for each other, whatever chains bind us together will snap like a rusty link."

Blake thought about what the girl said, burning it into her memory as she made a silent vow to make sure _this_ team didn't end up like the Fang, and that her partner wouldn't end up like her last one. If she had only paid more attention, she could've stopped Adam's path and set him on the road to re-establishing the Fang as they were meant to be. "I think we should get ready. If we leave them waiting, I don't think it would make a very good impression." Kurotsuchi nodded and the pair left their beds, finally getting ready for the day.

 **[Outside Room 103]**

"Naruto, wait up." Weiss didn't raise her voice or increase her step, but she still caught up with the blonde pretty quickly. She had to remain composed and elegant at all times, after all. "We're not heading to the coliseum immediately, are we?" When he shook his head, she sighed. "Good, I hope the food here isn't too bad. I don't expect anything approaching our cooks at the manor, but if it's at least decent, I'll be happy."

"The great Weiss Schnee settling for something less than perfect? I feel like this is a special occasion. Should I mark the date in my calendar?" The girl sent him a half-hearted glare, which he responded with by grinning. "In all seriousness, do you feel any different?" When her glare gave way to confusion, he expanded. "You have one of the Shards in Myrtenaster. If what Mikoto told us is true, the Shards may infuse into a weapon or piece of armor, but they also mark your very soul. Is there anything different about your Aura, your memories, anything?"

The heiress understood where he was coming from. She felt more than a little satisfaction that he was so worried for her, but decided to answer. "Truth be told, I didn't really know how to place it, but there is _something_. I don't know how to describe it except… I feel lighter. Not in a physical sort of way, but in a… how do I put this? My Aura feels a lot denser and more responsive, like a large river instead of a creek. I don't think my Aura actually increased, it just feels like I can do more with it."

"I think that Mikoto might be able to tell us more about this sort of thing." He pointed out with a frown. "There really isn't anything else we can do besides ask her what she thinks, and watch for any side effects that it might have. I won't say anything to the others, and I don't think you should either. The number of people that know about the Masks shouldn't be too large, and we don't want to let them know too much until they can be trusted not to turn against us, or the Order for that matter."

Weiss nodded. "They seem to be good people, and rather intelligent, but we hardly know either of them. We need to be sure that whomever we recruit will actually see this to the end and won't betray us. Still, do you think there might be any side-effects I should worry about?" The blonde seemed to be thinking a moment before sighing. "What?"

"Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough records of Masks and their wielders for me to give you an answer. The _only_ thing we can do is that I'll keep a close eye on you and try to help if anything happens. Harpe chose you, so that must mean that you have something it liked. On that very basis, so long as you treat it with respect, then I don't think it should do anything harmful to you. That's my hope anyways. Still, I think we _will_ need to figure out what this new feeling in your Aura will mean for your Glyphs and Spells and we need to do it quickly." Weiss couldn't argue with that. Still, she would trust Naruto to find the way and to keep them on track.

 **[Vale Coliseum]**

It was a little before seven when Blake a Kurotsuchi showed up to the coliseum, where Naruto and Weiss were already present. The two didn't seem to notice them, however, as they were currently locked in combat, rapier pressed against twin sickles. "Come on, Weiss, I know you can do better than that!" He commented with a grin as he suddenly disappeared. With a Time Displacement Seal enhancing his speed, he showed up behind the girl, readying an ax kick that she quickly rolled under. Upon landing, Naruto sped forward once more, throwing one of his sickles – which was now connected to the second one by an Aura Chain – at his long-term friend.

Weiss spawned several Gravity Glyphs, using them as platforms to jump into the air before creating one just above Naruto. Jumping up to that one, where she stood upside down, she dove at the blonde, Myrtenaster aimed right for his head as it glowed a bright yellow and sought to strike him with Lightning Dust before she even touched him.

With another Time Displacement Seal, Naruto was able to escape both the bolt and the sword. As the heiress landed, however, she was given no respite. Several blades of silver wind came her way, forcing her to create a Speed Glyph under her feet. Evading the blades with a show of grace more befitting of a dancer than a swordsman, she took a stance, looking at the blonde. "I'll show you, Uzumaki!" With her Speed Glyph still in effect, she rushed forward, tip aimed like a lance. Naruto grinned and answered in kind, using a Time Displacement Seal to match her speed. Once more, sickles met rapier as their blades and eyes were both locked in a battle of wills. "What were you going to show me? How pretty your eyes are?" Naruto teased, causing the girl to blush furiously even as she jumped back and launched several bolts of electricity at him.

Opening up a Mirror Seal, Naruto absorbed the bolts. Weiss widened her eyes as she saw what he was planning. Six enhanced bolts of Lightning Dust mixed with some of his Wind Dust, creating double helix shapes that rotated into drills at the tip, all aimed at the heiress. When the first one hit the ground where she was an instant before, an explosion rocked the ground, leaving it gouged. The rest of the volley soon followed, forcing Weiss to stay on the defensive. Each attack missed her, but she was running out of space to run backwards. When she calculated the last one was going to put her against the wall, the girl acted quickly. With a combination Gravity-Speed Glyph on the wall behind her, she jumped back and planted her feet on it, launching forward _under_ the missile and _into_ Naruto.

The blonde was surprised at the tactic, but Weiss didn't seem to have thought this all the way through. "Ow…" She muttered even as she sat up, holding her head. When she looked down, she saw a pair of cerulean eyes full of amusement and her face – which had previously recovered from earlier – once more lit up. She didn't seem capable of speaking, and the next comment didn't come from Naruto, who she had expected to say something.

"Do you think we should give the lovebirds some privacy, Blake?" Weiss' own partner stated a little _too_ loudly from the bleachers. Still straddling Naruto, she turned her head to see the other half of her team.

Blake immediately responded. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. How would we explain it to Professor Goodwitch if your partner got pregnant because we gave them that privacy?"

"If you wanted me so bad, Princess, we could've just skipped the foreplay, you know." There, there was the comment she expected from the _infuriating_ blonde. She turned her head back to look at the boy. Just as she was about to reply, she felt _something_ poking her.

If anyone thought her blush couldn't brighten any more, they were mistaken. "Sorry, Princess, can't help biology. If there's a pretty girl straddling me, things are bound to… _stir_." Looking at the boy who seemed to lack any semblance of shame, Weiss tried to stand, only to fall backwards because of how quickly she got up. Huffing indignantly at her team, she crossed her arms. "Aw, don't be like that Weiss." Naruto chuckled and stood, holding his hand out for the snowy-haired girl. "Come on, Princess." When she still didn't react, Naruto sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry. I guess I might have gone a _little_ overboard, but you know how I get with an audience." Weiss seemed to squirm a bit before sighing and taking his hand.

"You're lucky that I like you, Naruto." _Literally_ as soon as she said that, she saw the wide grin on his face and groaned, even as he helped her up.

"That sounds like a confession to me~!" He nearly sang. What was she going to do with him, honestly?

 **And that's it!**

 **Poor Weiss, getting teased by her whole team. Still, things are going to pick up pretty soon, so look forward to that. Let me know what you thought in the review section, or in a PM, or on my Discord server at Discord – dot – gg – slash – PWDD44v.**

 **Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


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